


It's Been Awhile

by yellowhalcyon



Category: RWBY
Genre: Affection, Alternate Universe - Normal Life, Falling In Love, First Dates, I wrote this fic for me but y'all can read it if you want, M/M, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Qrow Branwen is Ruby Rose's Parent, Recovery, Self-Indulgent, Slow Build, fair game, he is her dad he's her dad boogie wooogie woogie, qrow owns a bar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:20:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22990864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowhalcyon/pseuds/yellowhalcyon
Summary: Qrow Branwen recently made the decision to get his life together by going full cold turkey, no more alcohol, and hopefully no more bad decisions. The universe seemed to agree with him there on that one.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 15
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> fuck. crwby.
> 
> miles & kerry are fucking cowards.
> 
> The title comes from a song I heard on the radio at work and thought it was Nickelback so was like ‘they’re so memeable but this song fits my Qrow so much’ but then when I found it wasn’t in fact sung by them, I made it into the fic title.

Qrow gave up drinking barely a week before the Pride Parade went through Vale. So when Yang found him in one of the back rooms and rushed up asking how much more bread they had in storage, he needed a moment before he could follow.

“Just get the key and see what you can find,” he said, fumbling over the half open packet of ibuprofen in his hand. “I’ll join you in a minute.” His head was pounding, like someone had a drill they were slowly twisting into his skull.

Yang’s expression twisted a little. She placed her flesh hand up to his forehead. “You’re still burning up,” she said, voice soft. “You know I am eighteen now, so you can go home and I’ll be able to close up on my own. And do it legally.” She held up her prosthetic arm, “plus I wanna see if this buddy is good at holding cash cards.”

Qrow shook his head. Big mistake. The drill rattled around on the bone. Hand to his head, he needed a moment to let it cease. “No, no, it’s fine. I haven’t shown you everything you need for that yet,” he said eventually. “Once I get some pain killers in me, I’ll be able to look up without direct light feeling like its stabbing into my eyeballs.”

Satisfied with that answer, Yang smiled and left to go find this new bread he spoke of.

Qrow popped out three ibuprofen pills and swallowed them down with a swig of juice. He could almost taste the grapefruit and orange flavour and he felt proud of that.

Ruby had gotten the drink for him. Probably down to the fact they’d named the flavour _Ruby Breakfast_ because of the particular pink fruit selection.

“ _Ha ha can see why you picked that one_ ,” he had said when the kiddo plonked it down on the table in front of him, the previous morning.

Maybe he could go complete cold turkey, after all. He couldn’t stop his gradual reduction of the stuff over the last several months as other priorities arose ever since Yang lost her arm. But, he saw now, it was something he should have been doing ages before that.

Qrow sloshed the liquid around for a second and then downed the whole thing. He tried to stand up straight and immediately wanted to be sick. He sighed, silently cursing whoever made filament lightbulbs so blindingly efficient.

How many times had Oz told Summer carpet in a main bar would be a bad idea? Now he slightly wished she had listened to him as he made his way out from the back room and back into the bar area again. The soft touch threw off his balance and then Qrow’s legendary bad luck kicked in.

Squeezing his eyes shut, his head felt like a large air craft happened to be taking off from behind his skull. With no vision, it wasn’t long before he bumped into a table side.

Abruptly his feet fell out from under him. Qrow barely had time to throw his hands out to catch himself. “Waahhh—!”

A strong grip on his forearm brought him to a stop inches away from a nose-full of worn carpet. A connecting hand joined it on his shoulder to pull him up right.

Qrow could just about force his eyes open in the bright barroom lights, especially after having his head turned upside down. Everything else just needed to stop spinning.

“Woah, there!” his rescuer said, a tall man with bare muscular arms, bright green eyes and flushed pink skin. He wore his brunette hair in a slicked back style, although it looked a bit dishevelled from what he’d probably intended that morning. “Careful now, lucky I was within reach to catch you,” he said with what Qrow could have sworn was a playful tone to his voice.

He regarded the rescuer through squinted eyes. “I, uh— thanks.”

“Uncle Qrow, did you almost trip over again?” Weiss’ voice came suddenly from the side. Her screeching tone should have pierced right through Qrow’s eardrum, but remained a warm surprise.

“Yeah, _Uncle_ Qrow,” Ruby said, joining her. She still made the habit of sneaking up on him when the carpet in here softened the blow of her large boots. “Maybe you should, you know, go home and rest up. Did Yang tell you yet that we could close up on our own now that she’s eighteen?”

Qrow glanced over to them and smiled. Slow gentle movements to avoid disturbing the pain swirling around in his brain. “Girls, I swear, I’m fine, just need the ibuprofen to kick in,” he said.

A wave of dizziness washed through Qrow without warning and he reached for the nearest chair—

Only to find his rescuer noticed and planted a firm grip back on his shoulder again.

Qrow’s head snapped in his direction to be greeted with a comforting expression. Once sufficiently balanced, the hand let him go. His rescuer had warm hands.

“Thanks to _Mr. Lucky Catch_ here,” Qrow said, gesturing, “I’m still standing and I’ll have the rest of my faculties back, by the time, I need to think tonight for my taxes.”

“Anytime,” his rescuer said when their eyes met again. “It’s my pleasure.”

Qrow wasn’t sure then if the withdrawal symptoms made his heart skip a beat or if it came from someplace else entirely.

His rescuer stood alert and promptly held out his hand. “The name is Clover,” he said.

Qrow shook the offering hand. “Qrow. As you probably heard from my loud daughter and her friend.” He didn’t need to look over to know Ruby would be sticking out her tongue at him.

With the spinning world finally coming to a halt, he could take in the group of people stuffed onto their biggest table nearby. All, bar a few, were staring at them.

One with short hair and dark brown skin leant over the back of her chair. “Honestly, Clover, can’t even go to the bathroom without making a new friend, I see,” she said.

A big group like that would need a lot of food and the bar only just made it through today’s rush hour lunch break.

“Oh, you’re the reason Yang needs more bread,” Qrow said, “got a big party with you.”

“Absolutely.” Clover looked back to the group, nodding to the woman with short hair, and returned with a firm smile. “We would have even more if Elm hadn’t taken the other group to the pier for lunch instead.” He puffed out his chest on his next breath and Qrow spotted the tiny badge on his vest of a four-leaf clover, underneath one of a rainbow flag. He clearly took quite well to his name.

The woman back at the table grunted. “Ugh, and I bet they found somewhere up market considering Pietro’s finer tastes.”

A few heads around the table shared a laugh with her.

“I’m the co leader of Queer Ops,” Clover said, “an LGBT _plus_ organisation for local county’s queer youth,” he explained. “We saw the Pride flag stuck on the door and thought this a good place to stop during the parade.”

Qrow frowned. “Hold up. It’s Pride today?”

“Yes,” Weiss said, wiping her hands on her apron. To this day she remained the only one in the room actually in uniform, let alone wearing an apron. If the rest wanted to get drink and leftovers on their own clothes, she didn’t wish to be one of them. “They’re passing by barely a few blocks over.” She flung her long hair braided back to behind her shoulders.

Qrow moved over to the window and peered out. The distant wiggles of colourful flags and people flicked in between the gaps of distant buildings. “What d’you know.” He turned back to Weiss and Ruby. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“We tried,” Ruby said defiantly to her boots. “Several times. Guess the message didn’t go through.”

“Well it’s through now.” Qrow raised his voice a little to get the attention of Jaune and Ren standing by the bar. He didn’t mind making a spectacle of himself for an important situation such as Pride. “Come on, boy and girls, we have an officially organised queer youth group that’s just walked through our door on Pride and they’re hungry. Let’s take their orders and give them everything we got.”

“I’m sure we can take it,” Clover said back across the room and when Qrow glanced over to him, he winked.

Qrow’s heart skipping a beat this time definitely couldn’t be pinned down to the withdrawal symptoms. His eyes went wide and he found that he struggled to look away, a dawning realisation rising up inside: _was this man flirting with him?_

Clover broke the moment. “But, uh, I was heading somewhere so,” he pointed off to the side with his thumb. Turning to his group, “feel free to start without me, Ops,” he said and then disappeared off in the direction of the bathrooms.

Qrow let his gaze follow Clover’s exit and regarded himself for a second. The pain killers hadn’t quite kicked in enough yet to help him comprehend this. He felt slightly overwhelmed by what had happened.

Sure, he’d been through his fair share of flirty conversations. But usually not with himself being _the one_ on the receiving end of someone else, so confidently vying to gain his attention.

Come out here, Qrow no longer owned a single shirt that didn’t exist without a stain on it and just about got himself into the shower this morning. He did happen to own his own business and it was certainly booming.

Maybe that was what led Clover to assume they both resided on similar ground right now.

But his hair was a scruffy, greying mess and Clover, without a single grey hair on his head, wore an armband on his bare and muscular left arm.

All of this excluded the obvious elephant in the room: Qrow painfully trudging along with his alcohol recovery. With that, he stopped dwelling on it.

“Weiss,” Qrow spoke without really looking over for a second, “you taken their order yet?”

She nodded.

“Well,” he held out his hands, “we have _other_ customers.”

Weiss perked up her chin, but didn’t seem annoyed. “Where else would I be headed?” she said and marched off to another part of the bar.

“Ruby?”

“Yeah?”

“Found any problems yet?”

Ruby tried her best to genuinely think for a moment and Qrow couldn’t stop the smile it put on his face. “Nope,” she said and shook her head. “Other than everything we’re gonna run out of, but we have restock coming tomorrow, so that should sort things out. The drinks will last us for now and we have nothing out of date. I’m going to check when we close up tonight. And then get everything washed up.”

If he could, Qrow would hand over the entire business to Ruby already, but for legal reasons that was not happening any time soon.

These days full grown adults didn’t go handing over a fully functioning pub to a seventeen-year-old girl. Although, he knew Summer would have agreed with him.

He also knew Ruby wanted him to work alongside her, not under. Even after everything he had put her and the other kids through.

“Okay.” Qrow nodded his head towards the bar. “Go see if Jaune needs help with anything.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I…” he said.

The thought disappeared into the air between them.

Qrow shrugged his shoulders. Getting back into the flow of business remained at a slow pace, it seemed. “I’ll find something, don’t worry about me,” he said.

He liked the relieved expression that statement put on Ruby’s face. He wasn’t burdening her as much today. Small steps, but they gave him such a big payoff.

Right after her sister walked away, Yang appeared from the back door. “Uncle Qrow, you gonna help me find this bread or not?” she said.

Qrow sighed. Distracted by Clover and his apparent ability to sweep Qrow off his feet, he had completely forgotten about the original something there was to do. “Sorry, yes. I’m coming, firecracker,” he said and went to join her.

¬

Qrow eyed the Queer Ops’ table with trepidation. He didn’t normally feel anxiety about talking to customers.

Perhaps the pain was making it hard to prioritise the right emotions. He could still feel a bell banging around in the back of his skull, the lights reached down from the ceiling to scratch at his skin. Pain killers took too long to kick these days.

Qrow broke off another piece of bread, squishing it between his fingers before popping it into his mouth. It helped to fill his stomach with something dense, acted as a distraction and would, as far as it allowed, prevent him from getting hungry for other cravings. If only it didn’t make him feel sick to eat right now.

He’d gotten out of the worst of it, Qrow kept repeating that when the bile threatened to rise in the back of his throat. He stuffed another clump of bread inside. It was meant for the customers but he could eat the stuff if it came off his pay check.

A series of laughs erupted from the Queer Ops table and his head shot up and over to them. He really hoped it didn’t look like he was staring. Which, admittedly, he had been. But only at one of them in particular. And he knew how to watch a person without explicitly _watching_ them.

Another series of laughs washed through the group. From here, he couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Qrow stuffed the last bite of bread in his mouth and, swallowing it down, pushed up from the bar counter.

In the other corner of the room, Ren and Weiss were busy cleaning up a vacant table.

Ruby and Jaune sat chatting further down the bar, awaiting the next set of customers to come through the door.

Nora presumably had gone outside to clean up the few benches they had around the building in the hot summer heat. The last time he’d seen her she stood in the main arch way talking to Ren.

Yang would be out back with the bread she’d acquired, making the current food that had been ordered.

Qrow walked up to the Queer Ops table. They only had drinks so far, although not all of them, so it would be too early to do the usual inquiry about their meal and experience. That wouldn’t stop him from riding off this concept anyways as an excuse to talk.

As hoped, Clover looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps.

“I see you don’t all have drinks yet,” Qrow said, trying his best to sound friendly, while his brain repeatedly bashed itself around in his skull. He placed his hand on the back of the chairs closest to him for a little stability. If one of them happened to be Clover’s that would only be a coincidence. “But if there’s anything I can do to make your stay more pleasant, don’t be afraid to let me or the kids know.”

Many heads other turned his way, alongside Clover’s. Bar a few of the younger folks further down the table who seemed too preoccupied with their own conversation to care for another adult to join in.

The woman from earlier, with the spikey hair, snorted. Qrow was pretty sure he hadn’t caught her name yet. “Oh I’m sure something will come up,” she said.

“And if it does, we’ll give you a shout,” Clover said. The smile he gave made his eyes shine a little brighter, Qrow noted.

“We’re pretty exhausted since _someone_ wanted us to walk down the length of the parade despite us _not_ being in the parade this year,” the woman added while looking directly at Clover.

Said man rewarded her with a fallen smile and side-eyed glance.

“You’ve been in the parade before?” Qrow asked. “I’ve always wanted to join but never knew how to get in.”

“Helps if you work for an organisation,” the woman said.

A slender man exhaled at her remark. He wore his hair in buzzcut style and had paling pink skin. The sleeves of his sweater reached down over his hands, where he’d looped his thumbs through the fabric. “Maybe they do one for queer pubs,” he said.

“There a lot of those around?” the woman said, teasing.

The slender man responded with a slow shrug. “It was hypothetical.”

“Oh I know.”

“It’s been years since I’ve even been to Pride,” Qrow said. More years than he would have liked. Addiction took a lot of focus from the rest of his life onto itself. “I was a bit worried it wasn’t as good anymore.”

“It depends on who you ask,” Clover leaned back in his chair to reply. “The kids seem to love it, so that’s what matter to me. And it’s a good chance to get the future generation organised and out the door, learning something new about queer history while we’re at it.” He glanced over to the ones at the other end of the table.

They all gathered around one phone to watch something.

“So are you…?” the woman’s voice brought Qrow’s attention back to this end of the table. It took him a second to get what she was implying.

“Harriet,” Clover warned firmly.

Finally, her name. “What?” Harriet said, objective. “I can’t ask if someone is gay on Pride day after we just came out of said Pride while we’re all sat in his gay bar.”

“You can,” the slender man argued. His name remained up for debate. “Doesn’t mean you should.”

Clover turned his head up to Qrow and spoke to him directly. “She means no harm,” he said, eyebrows gathering in apology.

Qrow held up a hand. “None taken,” he said. He then gestured the hand to the space around him. “But I would hope by now, it’s pretty obvious.”

Regardless of when Pride came around, a string of flags hung up the ceiling beam framing the bar area and among them was a rainbow and one in the bisexual colours. _Love is Love_ had been painted on another beam. Posters from nearby businesses coated a cork board in the corner, one of which, in bright blue and pink colours, was dedicated specifically to homophobic hate crimes.

If Blake had been working today, she would probably have leant out of the bar to plant a kiss on Yang’s cheek as she now came forward with their food.

“Yeaaaaah,” Harriet made a show of looking around before her gaze went straight back to Clover. “It’s clear enough.”

This time he merely gave her a testing, sideways look.

Qrow took this as his cue to leave to avoid an awkward linger. “Well as I said, anything you need, don’t be afraid to ask for anything,” he said with a tap on the back of Clover’s chair.

Passing by, Yang held up the first dish in her flesh hand to announce the order and place it down before it’s recipient.

Qrow about made it to the bar before the bile wanted to escape from his mouth. Swallowing, he pulled himself around to the staff side and slumped against the counter in the least dramatic way possible, hoping the Queer Ops were too distracted with their food to take note of his poor state.

The cash machine dinged from the across the room and shot like a spear through his ear. Qrow pinched the bridge of nose, scrunching up his eyes.

Ruby came up to him, now blocking the Queer Ops’ view. “Everything okay with them?” she said. A little less possible for her to sneak around on the tile back here, as her boots clomped on the ground.

“Yeah,” Qrow flung his head up far too quickly. The world began to spin. He kept his hand up there as support. “I just wanted to check in on how Pride was and, ugh, get a distraction from this headache.”

Ruby put her hand up to the other side of his head and stroked through his hair. It relieved a great deal of the tension. She glided her fingers through the loose strands a few more times until she seemed satisfied with the lesser amount of pain he was showing.

Qrow loved her so much and he wanted to give her the whole universe, if he could.

“We should go next year,” he said, forcing out the words to move the conversation onto something else. When he found that he could open his eyes again, Ruby smiled.

Her eyes to the side, “I’d love that,” she said. She was already lost in the thought of it. Qrow forgot the days his brain could move that fast as well.

The world finally stopped swirling round and round and Qrow felt he could stand once more without needing to empty his stomach. He had to find something physical to do before the pain took over again.

“Has the dishwasher been loaded yet?” Qrow asked, dusting himself down and heading off to the kitchen to check, regardless.

Ruby said a chirpy, “yes,” before going out of ear shot.

The day ticked on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta be honest i'm not happy with all of this (no surprise there) but i know i'm gonna be happy with the fic overall so that's that.
> 
> I started writing this before ep 12 aired and so naturally after ep 12 went off it for a week, but it's meant to be a completely self-indulgent fic, which meant after ep 13 I've decided to come back and give it another go.
> 
> It's just Qrow enjoying his life with his kids and new boyfriend. In fact I literally found a [post](https://aquestionofcharacter.tumblr.com/post/189535586597/me-writing-at-age-15-what-if-the-story-was-about) that describes me with this fic perfectly, lol.
> 
> Eight chapters is just what I have planned out so far, but they'll be as long as they'll be and then i'm splitting them up into smaller chunks, which means that number might change once i get closer to the end parts of the story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have adhd and i struggle with the whole 'not already being friends' thing, so if it seems a bit rushed between them that's why, hopefully that'll fade as the chapters carry on and they actually start getting close to each

_Smash!_

Qrow breathed out very slowly and resisted the urge to slam his fist on some solid surface nearby. “Gosh darn it, every damn time,” he let out through gritted teeth.

Slumping to his knees, he cautiously brushed the pieces of smashed glass together with a sleeve pulled over his palm. Down here, he could hide behind the bar, not that he got bothered by the staring and whispering anymore when he broke or knocked over something fragile.

His legendary bad luck simply refused to cease, even now his headache had somewhat mostly dissolved. He still couldn’t clean out the dishwasher’s contents, at least the once, without one little bastard slipping through his fingers and seeking its death on the tiled ground.

The area around him darkened and then suddenly a voice said, “require any help with that?”

Qrow looked up with only his head to find Clover stood, hands on his hips, looming over the guest side of the bar into his. Hesitant, he raised an eyebrow as ask to come over to the staff side.

Qrow leant back onto his knees. “Be my guest,” he said with a wave of the hand.

Clover crossed over the separating panel and crouched down opposite him. “I deal with a lot of broken things back at the base,” he said. Nicking a napkin from under the bar, he began picking up the larger bits and piling them on top. “Part of why I got into the habit of wearing gloves.”

“Oh. Well, they suit you, at least,” Qrow said, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

Clover greeted him with a surprised expression, but quickly gave a warm smile. “Thank you,” he said. “You have a brush and dustpan somewhere?”

“Uh yeah.” Qrow removed the hand away from the back of his neck and used it to grab the brush and pan behind. “Let me get it,” he said.

Handing them both over to Clover, he sat and watched him carefully brush up the glass. The enclosed space and restricted movement forced Clover to hunch up his shoulders. It became impossible not to admire the magnitude of his arms.

Qrow shifted his gaze down to the glass, the matter at hand, before his eyes began to drift over to _other_ spots and he made the man uncomfortable.

The light around them darkened once more and some kid, no older than Yang or Jaune, leaned over the counter to address them.

“Hey, sir,” he said, his short hair bouncing along with each word, “do you have anything that’s possibly alcoholic? I know it’s only four pm but we’ve been here since eleven and most of us, the ones over eighteen, would like—”

Qrow straightened up, shook his head. “No, we don’t,” he said, voice stern. “Sorry, we don’t serve anything alcoholic here. Not anymore.”

The kid frowned. “But why? It’s a pub!”

“None of your business that’s why,” Qrow said, trying not to get annoyed at this guy’s persistence. He didn’t wish to get snappy at him, not since the new turn around. It wasn’t who he was anymore and his years as a teacher should have taught him one thing.

But he didn’t need to explain his sobriety to a stranger when they couldn’t take no for an answer. That wasn’t his problem. It seems fighting that negative urge became a lot harder when not around Ruby and her strong silver eyes to stare defiantly up at him.

“Marrow,” Clover rose up next to him, “there’s a store across the road, go in there and buy something if you’re that desperate. But one bottle, nothing above six percent. That’s it.”

Marrow slumped his shoulders, obviously unsatisfied with that compromise. “Ugh. Fine,” he said and went off back to the group.

Qrow let him fully leave before turning back fully toward Clover. Attraction or not between them, this little crush, developing flirtation, or whatever it could be, still didn’t mean Qrow could be around alcohol just yet.

So, part way, Qrow hoped that connection would at least make Clover persuadably in his favour, if he had to force his hand right in this moment.

“You’re not drinking that in here or I’ll have to ask you to leave,” he said. His voice remained level.

Clover regarded for a long moment, perhaps thinking Qrow could be joking. But when he read enough from his expression to be sure he wasn’t, he let out a firm “okay.”

In fact, Clover appeared to almost shift inward on himself. As if he felt embarrassed about resolving the situation in a way that left Qrow upset, and especially at him. That his intention had been to do the opposite.

“I’ll have a word with him,” Clover said. “Yeah, I shouldn’t have put that idea in his head, I’m sorry.” He leaned in closer, “if you spot any of them with drink regardless, come to me and I’ll deal with it.”

Qrow blinked. That turned out easier than he thought. “Sure,” he said. “Thank you for, you know …offering to do that.”

“No problem,” Clover said and his posture appeared to deflate a little, tense muscle relaxing as he breathed out. It left a little awkwardness to his bones, however, and he regarded the space between them before speaking again, “I should probably go stop them before they try to leave.” Clover pointed to the glass still not cleaned up on the carpet, “I _can_ leave you here with this..?” he said, uncertain.

Qrow exhaled. Knees already bending, he crouched down to finish the job. “It’s just some glass. I’ll be fine,” he said and heard Clover laugh, then leave.

He picked at the shards of broken glass to chuck them onto Clover’s pile. The pieces clinked when they collided with one another.

“Ouch, fuck!”

Four pieces in and a sharp tingle shot across Qrow’s palm. He pulled the hand back quickly to catch a glimpse of blood leak from the skin.

¬

Weiss’ voice felt like untangling a large knot in Qrow’s hair, slightly unpleasant but necessary. “Your hands have the shakes and you thought it was a good idea to pick up glass?” she said.

He sighed, trying very hard not to fidget too much as Jaune dabbed along the cut of his palm. The bleeding had finally managed to stop somewhat, so they took full advantage of that to clean and bandage it.

“I’ve had the shakes for a few days now,” Qrow said, each dab irritated at his exposed skin. His shoulders constricted. “So forgive me for forgetting to notice them every hour of the day.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jaune said. “I would have gladly dealt with it.” Finished wiping down the cut, he began to unpack the wound dressings for the appropriate size. “We’re not that busy now those Queer Ops have their food.”

Weiss reached forward and started to gather up the pile of used wipes and open sachets, scrunching them under her fist.

At his side, Ruby squeezed Qrow’s shoulder. That made it a little easier to soothe the irritability rising from his throat. He wasn’t in front of a stranger anymore, he stood with family now.

“Because,” Qrow said, gently. “I broke it therefore it’s my responsibility to clean up.”

Ruby gave his shoulder another squeeze. “Dad, you know that’s not how it works any more,” she said.

He smiled at her. “I hear you, kiddo.”

Seeing Ruby smile back never failed to make everything feel so much better in the Qrow’s world.

“Uh, who is cleaning it up though?” Nora said from across the room. She looked to Ren beside her and he responded with a shrug.

Yang abruptly appeared at the door, clutching her flesh hand to her chest. “Jaune, that stupid glass cut my flesh hand!” she said, “tell me you have some bandages left?”

Jaune groaned and his shoulders slumped.

Forever logical, Ren spoke up first, “why weren’t you using your prosthetic hand?” he said.

Yang held up her prosthetic. The mechanism allowed that if she tensed her forearm, she could operate the fingers. And she did so now to squeeze together the thumb and fingers of the yellow and black hand. “Because it’s not articulate enough. Look!” she said.

Weiss interjected, “and you left the smashed glass unattended?” She had balled the wipe packets into a ball and threw them across the table as if to emphasise her question.

“No, of course not. That buff guy from the Queer Ops said he’d handle it.”

“Clover,” Qrow corrected.

A noticeable hush fell on the room.

When all eyes had turned on him, Qrow added as explanation, “yeah I know, he leans into his name sake aesthetic somewhat.”

“I don’t think that’s why we’re staring at you, Uncle Qrow…” Jaune said, his voice low and quiet.

An itchy blush crept up the back of Qrow’s neck as he assessed what had happened. There had only been Ruby and Weiss around to witness his and Clover’s introduction. For the others, it looked like he knew this man by name and the Queer Ops group had barely been in the bar for over an hour. Naturally, it would be easy to make an assumption.

Eyes wide, Nora darted forward in elation. “Do you want me and Ren to get his number?” she said.

Still back in the corner of the room, Ren frowned minutely. “I am unclear how we would do that, Nora,” he said.

“I think I can obtain his number myself,” Qrow said, objecting. “Thank you very much.”

“But you _do_ want his number?” Nora said with a questioning finger in Qrow’s face. She put her hands on her hips and swayed onto the balls of her feet. “Jaune,” she looked to him, “hurry up and fix his hand so Qrow can get back out there and talk with Clover some more.”

Yang jumped in next to her. “Yeah then you can start on my hand as well,” she said. “Gotta preserve the only one I have left.” As if to escalate her point, she tapped her flesh arm on the wall. But used too much force hitting the bone and, after the bump, pulled it back with an “ow!” and a pained expression.

Unable to focus with the rising conversation, Jaune raised his voice. “Guys, please!” He paused half way to Qrow’s palm with another plaster strip, almost crumpling it between his fingers and ruining the sticky texture. “Slow down,” he said, desperate. “You can’t rush the healing process.” With intense concentration, he succeeded in placing a third strip at the other end of the cut.

“I think it’s done, kid,” Qrow flicked his eyes up to Jaune. “Give me the big plaster already and we can be finished here.” Mostly, he wanted to hurry this along because he disliked how Jaune had to pinch the cut together each time he put a strip down, sending a new shock of pain across Qrow’s skin.

Admitting defeat, Jaune got Qrow to hold his hand out, fingers together and thumb out, while he attached a square patch over the patched-up cut, smoothing it down as much as he could, before cutting off a stripe of tape to wrap around his whole hand and keep it in place. It would probably need a fresh dressing by the end of the day and it meant he definitely would have to stay away from any food preparation. But it served the purpose for now.

Qrow nodded a thank you at Jaune and reclaimed his hand.

“Please don’t pick up anymore glass,” Jaune said. He squared his shoulders, although this had no extra effect considering how tall he’d become. He directed firmly, “in fact, as head bartender, I’m banning you from picking up any more glass or sharp objects in the future.” His eye twitched slightly while he tried his hardest to uphold a resolute demeanour.

Qrow regarded him for the longest second. “I’m still above you in that aspect,” he said, then immediately softened. “But you’ve never been wrong in the past, so next time, I’ll let you know when I smash something else made of glass.”

Jaune exhaled in relief, before promptly turning away to help Weiss with cleaning up and that immediately diminished the intimidation of his demand.

As a reminder, Yang stepped up behind Jaune and held up her hand for examination. The cut was thankfully less than half the size of Qrow’s but still enough to require an examination and a band aid.

Qrow flexed his hand to test the durability of the bandaged and then headed for the door. Regardless of Clover’s help, he still needed to supervise the situation because if a customer also got hurt, well then, they would be in big trouble.

As if on cue, Nora stepped up next to him. “You heading out to talk with Clover?” she asked, her eyes noticeably bright blue at the close distance.

“No,” Qrow said with a sideways glance and she deflated like a scolded puppy. “I’m going to finish supervising the clean-up of the glass that I broke.”

Nora’s grin returned. “By talking with Clover?” she added quickly.

“Only ’cause I have to.” Qrow gave her a little smirk and finally left the room.

Bar in the main area, he headed straight towards the bar where the broken glass resided. How long had it been left lying on the floor now? All this fuss over one broken glass. He could only hope all this fuss and excitement was due to the presence of the Queer Ops and the new status quo of Qrow’s cold turkey phase. And it wouldn’t become a common occurrence.

As stated by Yang, Clover could be found crouched again behind the bar, sweeping up the last fragments of glass. He reached for the napkin with the larger shards collected on it.

“This is where I need to step,” Qrow said immediately to get his attention.

Clover turned his head to see who spoke. Whether he was aware of it or not, a smile formed on his face when he locked eyes with Qrow. He straightened up to hand over the dustpan and brush. But the smile fell from his face the second he laid eyes on Qrow’s bandaged hand. “Qrow,” Clover said, sounding far too concerned for Qrow’s own worth in how short a time they’d spent together, “you promised me you’d be fine.”

Instinctively, Qrow tried to hide the hand behind him like that could somehow solve the problem. “It’s not that bad,” he said, insisting. He needed both hands to take the dustpan and the brush, however.

Clover looked back down to the mess he’d piled together. “You can’t seriously think I’m going to let you finish cleaning this up, after you’ve already hurt yourself?” His eyes flashed towards the location on Qrow’s side, where he had shoved his arm back behind his hip.

Qrow needed to get closer, to get around Clover to the glass on the floor. But he stood at the edge of the bar, hesitant, knowing full well from experience not enough space resided between it and the shelves behind for two people to move around each other freely.

Clover’s eyes narrowed in the time Qrow had taken to regard this scenario as if he worked that out himself as well. His actions backed this up by how he took a half step back and pulled his hands holding the brush and dustpan to his body.

Trying to ignore the temptation, “I have to,” Qrow said and stepped into the cramped bar space to snatch one of the items. He went for the dustpan and got it in time.

Clover yanked the brush out of reach.

Qrow eyed it, cautiously, outstretched to Clover’s side and then moved his gaze back to Clover’s own. “If you get hurt then I’d be in some serious trouble,” he explained. He promised himself he wasn’t going to even attempt go for the brush.

At least not in front of all his customers.

The Queer Ops sat on a table not too far away and, in the corner of his eye, he could see a few heads pointed their way, probably attracted to the sudden movement of Clover’s arm.

In an abrupt fashion, however, Qrow’s attention got pulled back to other means as he finally became aware of the heat source bleeding to his own. Suddenly they stood barely a few centimetres apart and he was left wondering where all that space between them had gone.

Clover raised an eyebrow. “Not happening, Qrow,” he said, an unmoving structure before him.

Qrow exhaled and his breath brushed over Clover’s vest collar, tickling the fabric. That red-hot itch returned to his neck and he wanted to reach up to scratch at it. But, in the enclosed space such as this, surrounded by bottles on shelves, he thought better of the action.

A broken glass appeared to be more than enough to handle for one day.

Clover really had him in a catch-22 here, either he relented and let Clover help him or he would have to challenge the man physically to get the brush back and Clover probably got his way there as well. If his flirting and reactions were anything to go, something more than playful conversation was at play here.

To avoid the embarrassment that came with fighting a man obviously more well-endowed than him, Qrow realised he would have to come to a compromise. All jokes aside, he still couldn’t just let a customer clean up his mess. “I could… escort you and supervise while you dispose of the glass out the back,” he suggested.

Clover produced a knowing smirk. The cheeky bastard got his way. “Fine with me,” he said.

Qrow felt a few extra pairs of eyes on them both than normal, but did his best to block it all out. After another sigh, he relented, stepped back, and squeezed out from the bar space. “Promise not to sue, if you get sliced,” he said still facing Clover.

The man in question smiled softly while he crouched down once more in front of the glass. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said and positioned the brush before noticing something missing.

Qrow held out the dustpan for him to take. At first, he tried to fight against the unintentional shake of his hand, but it only made the shaking worse.

If Clover noticed, he said nothing. Just before he could reach for it, Qrow darted his wrist to the side and Clover’s fingers fell into empty air. The smile on his face turned devious, and his eyes changed to match.

Qrow held the dustpan out again, but dropped it into Clover’s hand this time. With eyes on them, he thought better to play it dirty only the once.

Broken glass finally collected, Qrow lead Clover round the back to where the bins lay. He made sure to use a route that wouldn’t pass by the storage room the kids were in, just in case Nora hadn’t returned to her post yet.

There used to be a specific glass bin that saw regular use from Qrow’s uncontrollable habit of dropping breakable items on hard floors, but it must have gotten lost in the last few months and other decisions had taken priority over acquiring a new one. Ever since he caught Nora trying to flush a broken plate down the toilet, he’d made sure to get everyone to dump their broken shards directly in the backyard bin.

Anything bigger than the dustpan, they would cross that bridge when they got to it.

The door to the back swung open wide and slammed into the wall, which immediately negated his attempts at a stealthy passing.

It always did that. And Qrow have known to plan ahead. But he couldn’t think fast enough in his current foggy state.

The headache and eye stabbing pain had subsided but it would be a few more weeks before other asserts returned to him and, even once they did, he still needed to get used the sensation of having complete full control again. Years and years spent within a constant hazy bubble felt like being stuck driving at thirty miles an hour and suddenly discovering one day he had two more gears to work with.

Outside, Qrow tapped the side of the wheelie bin. The sound echoed about inside the half-hollow metal box. “Just dump it in here,” he said.

Clover lifted the lid with one arm and dumped the contents of the dustpan inside with the other.

Qrow busied himself with sorting out his shirt and apron to avoid getting distracted by the curve of the muscles in Clover’s arms.

A breeze bounced around on the walls of the backyard, as if it spotted new company, and swept down to play with his greying dark hair.

The sky glowed gentle orange as the sun now peeked lowly through the clouds. Evening approached.

The parade must have been over by now or heading that way with the last of the business banners trailing their way down the road. Qrow made a note to check the window when they were back inside.

 _Thunk, thunk thunk_!

Clover tapped the dustpan against the bin’s edge and did the same with the brush. It nearly made Qrow jump out of his skin.

“This building looks very old, but well maintained,” Clover’s voice softly brought Qrow’s focus back. “How long have you owned the place?” he said.

Being asked made Qrow realise he wasn’t entirely sure. Summer had put the money into it back when they were barely into their twenties with still seven more years of her medical training to cross off. As the years passed by most of them had nearly forgotten about it. Then after she didn’t come back, it remained one of the few things he and Tai had left of her.

“Uh,” Qrow said, scratching the back of his neck in the chance that might help him think, “nearly a decade now, I believe.”

Clover thought on that. “What made you want to own a bar?”

“What made you want to work at a youth centre?” Qrow said, shooting back with not a single bit of malice.

Glass disposed of, Clover closed the bin and placed the dustpan on top. He exhaled on a little laugh, eyebrows peeking up at Qrow’s point.

“I got given the chance when my daughter was very young,” Qrow continued and Clover listened. “At the time, it came as a second chance so I’ve made sure not to waste the opportunity.”

“So,” Clover said, pondering, “you inherited some secret stash of riches from a long lost relative? Something like that?”

“A bit like that,” Qrow said with a forced laugh. Summer Rose hadn’t been a secret. But the love he had felt for her, always felt for her, was stronger than any familial love he’d yet to experience. Although, the evidence spoke for itself on that matter and, bar from Ruby, he didn’t exactly have the best track record when it came to blood family.

The breeze tensed once more and he let it carry his thoughts away. Now was not the time.

Through the waves of coolness, Qrow felt something warm brush up against his forearm and turned back to look to find Clover stood right next to him.

He took a second to meet Qrow’s eye as he spoke, “Qrow, I was thinking… If it isn’t too brash of me to ask, could I get your—”

A slender figure appeared in the back doorway and Qrow’s eye instinctively shifted onto it. “Clover, they said you would be out here. Sorry for the intrusion but we’re in need of you.”

Clover snapped his mouth shut and gave Qrow a pleading look. “Of course, Vine, I’ll be right there,” he threw over his shoulder.

Vine nodded slowly and took that response with him.

With reluctant exhale, Clover’s shoulder slumped. He held out a finger. “Pause that thought,” he said and jogged back inside to follow after Vine.

Watching him go, Qrow reclaimed the dustpan and brush from the bin’s lid. The breeze continued to play with his hair as he made his way back inside. But it didn’t struggle with him when he pulled the back door shut.

Qrow went into kitchen and put the dustpan down on top of the bin. That wasn’t where it was meant to go. But it would remind him to place it back in the right location later. Or whoever else came to step on the lever and use the bin first. He knew this method would annoy Tai, if only he worked here, but the kids seemed to get along with it.

Although, truth be told, perhaps they didn’t. The thought occurred to Qrow abruptly that what if the Ruby and the rest of them hated his disruptive habits. Would they not call him out on it, his mind countered.

Addiction made his actions and moods unpredictable. Many a memory of blanking Ruby as he let his irritability do the talking. They wouldn’t tell him anything because past experience showed he did not care to listen.

Movement caught Qrow’s eye at other kitchen door to the room and Yang came in. Her flesh hand now patched up, the prosthetic one at her side.

Coughing to announce his presence, “how’s the hand?” Qrow said.

Yang twirled around at the sound of his voice, obviously expecting to be alone. The way her hair shifted about his shoulders, combined with the shire volume, always caused him think of fire. She relaxed when their eyes met. “It’s fine,” she said.

Come on, he didn’t help Taiyang raise her all these years to settle for that. “You sure?”

A beat of silence.

Yang made a face. “It stings more than I’d want,” she said, reluctant. She came up to him and brought his bandaged hand up with her own, their fingers lightly interlaced. “But we match now,” a grin on her face.

“I’d prefer if we didn’t match, firecracker,” Qrow said, although he still smiled back.

“How’s your head coming along?”

The question threw him off slightly.

His head still hurt. The pain would be with him until his grave at this rate. But the lights no longer wanted to rip his retina from his eyes through a small hole in the back of his skull, so that was some improvement, he could only guess. Getting caught up in this broken glass and his hand and all of Clover appeared to have helped as well. He had lost track of when the pain killers fully kicked in.

“Better,” Qrow said, simply.

Yang’s upper body appeared to release some extra weight. She smiled back at him, twice as bright. Even when viewed head on, she shone like fire. “Good to hear,” she said. Her brow pinched together, “I came in here for something so I should probably get back to that.”

They unlinked bandaged hands and Qrow left her to it. He headed back out into the main bar area, gave Jaune a quick check over, in case he needed an extra pair of hands, and then went out onto the floor.

The sight of their biggest table now lying empty sent a trickle of cold down his spine. Eaten meals and dirty cutlery lay scattered along the top surface and the chairs all rested at odd angles.

“Where are the Queer Ops?” Qrow said and he felt he wouldn’t like the answer.

“They left and in quite the rush,” Weiss said, appearing to clean up the table. She flopped the red dish cloth onto her shoulder and began to pile the plates and cups together. “Not before they paid though, don’t worry,” she added.

Qrow’s shoulders slumped on instant.

He didn’t want to say it but the notion was there. His signature bad luck struck again. He sighed, long and deep.

They had just missed each other, if he hadn’t stopped to talk to Yang or maybe followed Clover inside. There hadn’t been any reason to linger outside, he didn’t know why he had.

Qrow almost wanted to run out the door after them, but that seemed like an overreaction. And yet this notion refused to leave him.

_“Qrow, I was thinking… If it isn’t too brash of me to ask, could I get your—”_

The last words Clover had said to him, that look in his eye, what had he wanted to say? What did he want to ask? Maybe on the small off chance, he had wanted to ask for his number to give them another chance to keep talking.

Qrow knew for certain he wanted to get Clover’s. And now that chance seemed gone for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no they'll never meet again, i guess the fic ends here.... it was fun everyone, thanks for coming!
> 
> i have the next few chapters queued up so i'm gonna release them as Fair Game Week carries out ;)


	3. Chapter 3

Once it had been closed and locked, Qrow thumbed across the rainbow sticker on the front door. One of the corners had peeled back a little and the edges were wan. Having gotten so used to the little bits and bobs on here, he’d mostly forgotten about this sticker.

After all, it had put there by someone else nearly a decade before. It could be hard to even see the rainbow sometimes, since the back of it was white, unless the sun happened to be shining through on the right angle.

Summer set up a lot within this building long before Qrow even first walked through the door in those early years of their relationship.

After all that time, he’d forgotten the implications of such a sticker. At least the Queer Ops had had had somewhere to eat where they could genuinely feel safe on Pride. But, maybe on more than such a day, meaning that Clover might think to come back here again. He could only hope.

Like a loose fly in the air, a tingle of pain passed across Qrow’s forehead.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Qrow turned around as Jaune came out of the back rooms, car keys in hand. “Right, I’m going to get Oscar from school,” he said to the room. Having refreshed Qrow and Yang’s bandages, there really was nothing else left for him to do. After a moment Jaune tilted his head and mumbled quietly, “it feels wrong saying that on a Saturday.”

Ruby smiled from where she was organising the last of the glasses. Freshly washed by the dishwasher, she held most of them pinched between her thumb and forefinger until she dried it, since they still be quite hot. “Make sure to ask him about his chemistry class…” she said. “Oh and see if he read the article I sent him… and if he wants to keep playing _Out of Space_ tonight?”

Jaune held a bewildered expression, which to anyone who didn’t know him could confuse for annoyance. But, from experience, Qrow knew he would merely be attempting to keep note of Ruby’s limitless demands.

As soon as Jaune felt that list ended, he nodded out a simple “will do,” and headed for the staff exit door.

Remembering another thing, Ruby put down the glass in her hand and followed him out with more questions. “Oh wait! Jaune, and also…”

Qrow listened to their muffled voices in the porch room.

A moment later, Ruby popped her head back in to announce, “dad, I’m going with Jaune to get Oscar. See you back at the house. Let Yang know!”

Unsurprised by the turn of events, Qrow threw her a relaxed smile. “Okay, okay, see you there. I’ll make sure Yang knows you’re already gone,” he said. He waved her off and then went over to the bar to finish drying off the glasses.

Qrow then left the bar area with the money compartment from the till and moved into his office to start on the accounts for the evening.

The only two remaining in the building now were himself and Yang. The rest, accounting for Jaune and Ruby, would be back at the house already or out doing whatever they’d had planned for their day off. Plus Oscar, who would have spent the whole day on a school trip.

Qrow didn’t need to worry about where she was, Yang would make her presence known soon enough.

Qrow flicked on the desk light. He settled in his chair, tapped the laptop awake, and pulled the appropriate files from the drawer on the side.

The last time he took some ibuprofen was about an hour ago and he could feel every minute of that hour now that he needed to concentrate on something intricate. The fact his hand hurt as well added further to an already uncomfortable situation.

Qrow sighed, head on his better hand. A foggy indifference creeping into his bones, he noted that he didn’t want to be doing this.

The sound of boots came in from the tiled corridor and Yang popped her head around the doorway. “Mopping ’s done,” she said. The task never took long for her since she basically used it as a mini-workout, seeing how fast she could mop across the tiles until the sweat formed on her brow.

Qrow let out a smile whilst typing up a few numbers on the page. “Good job, kiddo,” he said, looking across when he could.

Yang lingered, hanging off the side of the doorway. She straightened up and stepped into the small office. “You making a start on today’s accounts?”

The lack of size to the office meant over the years it had been stuffed full of folders and various important documents, referring to the bar’s legitimacy. All this paper and furniture absorbed any sound within the room and emphasised any new sounds that came from the people inside.

“I only just started.” Qrow gave a long exhale. He twirled back in the chair to give his papers a reorganising shuffle.

Yang grunted. “This is why you need to teach me to do it.” When he didn’t reply, her hand dropped from the door frame. “So then you can mop and I can do the accounts,” she said, “and we’ll get it all done twice as fast. I get that my birthday was only a few months. But we don’t need you here doing everything for us forever. Not anymore, okay?”

Qrow tried to hide the sting he received from her words. She hadn’t meant it in that way and he kept that in mind.

However, he couldn’t hide the way his shoulders instinctively tensed, bracing for a hit he wasn’t expecting.

Taking a breath, “it scares me sometimes when you say things like that,” Qrow said quietly.

“Why?”

After everything that happened today, the missed opportunity, it drew attention to past chances and what Qrow’s role in this place and in their lives still meant here.

It had been awhile since he had fucked anything up, like he always did. And there was still something unspoken in the air between him, Ruby and Yang and everyone else. They had dealt with the money issues and neglected bills. But that still didn’t address how they got into that mess and how the others felt about him being the one to drag everyone down to it.

Qrow couldn’t answer it by himself. He also couldn’t ask because the answer scared him more than anything else in his life so far.

Qrow regarded her for a moment, before returning to his papers. He shouldn’t have pushed on that door. It would open Yang up to something that he needed to stay hidden. She had asked to help, not for his bitterness.

Qrow dismissed her with a hand. “Meh, forgot it,” he said.

Thankfully, Yang seemed to leave it aside. She continued to stand there for a long moment and Qrow resisted the urge to glance up. But it was impossible not hear her fidgeting around on the spot.

“Show me what to do then,” Yang eventually said.

When he threw a frown in her direction, she exhaled, nudging at his shoulder and then gesturing to the papers in his hand to smooth out his confused expression.

“Come on,” she said, “maybe I can get this done within an hour and you can come home with all of us tomorrow. Instead of having to stay here for the next _three hours_ ,” an _excessively_ generous exaggeration, in Qrow’s opinion, “and being stuck in here every night.”

She was right.

Sighing, Qrow offered out a hand. “Take a seat,” he said.

Yang pulled one of the stools in the corner up next to him and got comfortable.

For the next hour or so, he walked her through the process of counting and recording the money they had collected from the day’s sales.

The system almost crashed a few times and Qrow tried to quell his irritation and urge to shout an interesting collection of swear words. At least Yang found it amusing and her little giggles did help with keeping his patience in check regarding this _goddamn useless machine_. He couldn’t be truly angry with her around.

Ironically, they managed to get whole ordeal finished much earlier than Qrow would on his own. He took notice of that after a glance at the time. An extra pair of hands allowed the money to be counted quicker. The little square cards of lien fitted surprisingly very snug in Yang’s prosthetic hand, so she could have her more adaptable hand free to use the computer or reach for the papers.

Qrow was filing the papers away and shutting the laptop down as Yang put her flesh hand on his shoulder.

She squeezed the hand and waited for Qrow to direct his attention over to her. The moment he saw her face, the awkwardness settling on her shoulders, he knew what this would be about.

Against his better judgement, Yang tapped on that door he had closed.

“If…” she said. Falling into a frown, her lips pursed as if she was swirling the thought around in her head and delaying time, like she had to swallow something disgusting. “If it’s because you think you can’t talk to Ruby because…. she might not understand or take it the wrong way or you just don’t want to burden her… I promise whatever it is that’s bothering you – and don’t deny it, I know something is bothering you – I can stay here and be that person for you.”

In the moment, Yang looked so much like how her mother did at that age, when Raven wanted Qrow to share his thoughts with her. But with all those rough Branwen edges smoothed over by Tai’s soft detailing. It made her expression and her whole self easier to trust.

“Please, Uncle Qrow,” Yang said one more time. One more squeeze and she took back her arm.

Qrow blinked a couple of times, trying to push back the sting now blossoming across his eyes. He had to admit he wanted an answer to all this. Yet he also couldn’t ignore the fact that he didn’t want to speak on it either.

Qrow didn’t want to ever talk about this, if he thought in the long term. But the door had been opened and he owned Yang something for that much, after she had taken the time to wait for him, to explain what could be lurking inside.

“I’m being unfair,” Qrow eventually said, swallowing as he fought the lump forming in his throat. “That’s why I don’t want to talk about it.” Turning away, he blew out all the air from his lungs, puffed out his cheeks, and squeezed his eyes shut until he could find his voice again. “Before I stopped barely a week ago and when Ruby had to pull us out the mess I made… It was the perfect setup for you all to launch off from… I always thought, when you’re old enough, you would all leave me. And don’t get me wrong, I would be happy for that to happen, to get to watch everyone become whatever they want to be… but not for the sole reason of getting as far away from my existence as possible.” The thought hung heavy in his chest, like a hook on his heart pulling it further and further below the surface. “However, I could understand if everyone did.”

Yang already had a few tears streaming down her cheeks. That sight pushed him over the edge and Qrow keeled over himself.

Head in his hand, “ _I’m sorry, I’m sorry_ ,” he mumbled in between sobs. He hated feeling like this and giving into this emotion so much. The cries caught rough and raw in his throat. He coughed to shift things around and buried his head further into his hand as a new way of sobs overtook him.

Yang pulled him into a hug. It felt awkward at first with the angle and how she tried to get her arms around him in the tight space. She gave him time to catch on, properly position himself and hug her back, cradling the back of his head as he cried over her shoulder. “Uncle Qrow… it’s not like that…” she said, pain in her voice. She tried not to keep crying herself and failed, “you’ve got it all wrong. We stuck around… everyone stuck around because we _didn’t_ want to leave you. And we’re so proud of how far you’ve come. Please don’t think you were unbearable, Qrow. It’s not true. We love you. We all sat down and hashed it out and, trust me, we only want what’s best for you.”

Qrow hugged her tighter. “I love you so much.”

For a long while, they stayed as they were. Until Qrow could get his breathing back to a steady pace, something less shaky.

“Ugh,” Yang grunted and he could feel her reach up to rub at her face. She sniffled, wiping her nose. “That’s enough tears for one day, let’s go home and find something better to do,” she said, prodding his shoulder.

Qrow wasn’t quite ready to let go. “In another minute, though?” he asked, softly.

Yang settled her arm back down and pulled him in anew. “Sure, Uncle Qrow,” she said in a whisper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> qrow gets a little angst family feels here


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the day has finished but there's still a little sun in this chapter

The sun had long since set while Qrow drove himself and Yang home. Stars began to twinkle across a navy sky as he rode up to the house, a melancholy Hozier song signalling the end of their journey.

Yang retrieved her phone from the dashboard, unplugging the aux cord and popping it in her pocket. They got out of the car and walked up to the house in silence.

Qrow held the door open for her, “after you.”

“Why, thank you, kind sir,” Yang said in a comical accent.

Once inside, Qrow reached for her shoulders and, without a word, they hugged again. He somehow still stood a half a head taller than her. He planted a kiss into Yang’s hair line and they pulled apart.

“I probably don’t say this enough,” Qrow said, “but I am very proud of you.”

Yang made a face. “You definitely don’t tell me that enough,” she said and playfully nudged his chest. However, a bright grin couldn’t be stopped from fulling up her face as much as she tried to fight it.

Abruptly, a fluffy wave of blue hair stuck itself out from the kitchen. “Oh hey, that was Yang,” Neptune said, presumably announcing that to whoever resided in the kitchen. He looked to Qrow, “and old Uncle Branwen himself accompanies her as well.”

Qrow gave him a wave and watched Yang bound over to Neptune to shove him by the face back into the kitchen. He let out a muffled grunt through the palm of her hand.

“Blake,” Qrow heard Yang say, “what have I told you about inviting these degenerates into the house?”

“Oh tell me about it,” Neptune responded. “I’ve tried getting rid of him several times but he always manages to follow me around everywhere.”

Qrow decided he wouldn’t mind a coffee this time in the evening, so walked in after them.

Blake, now arm and arm with Yang, was leant against the counter. Neptune stood by the fridge and Sun sat up on top of it, legs crossed with his shirt two buttons away from simply being fully open. Their fridge didn’t rest low to the ground and his shoulders were slouched over from where they got squished by the ceiling.

Qrow remembered these boys from how loud they often could be, even without music or videogames, and from the fact Sun spent a good majority of the time climbing onto whichever odd, high-up surface he could get his body onto or into, whilst simultaneously not realising Blake hadn’t been reciprocating his corny advances.

At least, he had the good sense to tone down the genuine flirting and switch to cheeky teasing a good while before Blake and Yang started dating, because Qrow couldn’t say the same about his younger self. That was a definite.

“Mr B,” Sun announced from his spot, not making any attempt to get down. “We probably should have asked before making ourselves at home, shouldn’t we?”

Neptune’s eyes went wide at the prospect now made clear to him.

But Qrow quickly dismissed them both with a throw of the hand. “No, it’s fine. It goes without saying, you kids are always welcome here,” he said and Sun beamed.

Neptune leant against the fridge using his whole arm and acted like he hadn’t been two seconds away from a total freak out.

Qrow looked to Blake, “and I’m sure Blake is trustworthy enough of letting the right people into my house.”

She smiled, light and sweet. “Thank you, Uncle Qrow.”

Yang shifted her arms down to her waist and pulled Blake closer.

Awkwardness now diffused, Sun seized opportunity to reach down and snatch a banana from the fruit bowl. He peeled the banana very efficiently, shoulders still hunched, and chomped away a sizeable chunk of it.

“If you’re staying for dinner though,” Qrow said and Sun paused mid-bite, “you gonna have to let me know soon.”

Neptune and Sun shared a glance.

Qrow took a cup from the cupboard, flicking on the kettle, and spooned a good amount of coffee grains into it. He turned back to the others to lean on the counter while he waited for the water to boil.

“I think you might need to be more specific about what we’ll eat, Uncle Qrow,” Blake said, after it seemed the boys couldn’t answer for themselves. “Before either of them make that decision.”

Sun added on the end, “I can help with the washing up, of course, Mr B.”

“Don’t look at me for what food ’s going to be,” Qrow said, shrugging, “I definitely don’t have a say in the matter until I, at least, ask Oscar. Let alone ask Ruby.”

The kettle finished boiling and he poured the water into his cup, stirring around the contents until the grains dissolved. He took a testing sip, black as could be, and tossed the spoon into the sink.

Since a solution was yet to be met, “well, when you do decide, come let me know so I’ll remember to lay out extra plates for you,” Qrow said. He left the kitchen after giving each boy a simple smile.

Barely two steps back in the foyer and he heard Sun’s voice from back inside the kitchen bellow, “oh you’re completely right, Blake, he is so much nicer all of a sudden!”

Neptune responded a little quieter, “I’m pretty sure, he can still hear you, dude.”

“So what? I’m giving him a compliment!”

Qrow rolled his eyes, but smiled to himself. “Cheers, kid,” he shouted back to him, before heading off towards the living room.

In there, he found Jaune, Oscar, and Ruby playing on the TV, presumably the game she had been relaying to Jaune before they both left to pick Oscar up. Qrow couldn’t remember the name.

Sat on the floor, with their backs to the sofa, they each had a controller in their hands connected to the screen and a plethora of snacks on the floor space between them.

Qrow paused on a half-step. They must have raided the fridge. He made a note to go shopping tomorrow.

Ruby turned her head at the sound of the door. “Dad, you’re back earlier than usual,” she said, her hands dropping into her lap.

“—Ruby, please, the bucket,” Oscar said, insistent.

A character on screen stopped moving. Presumably this was Ruby. A few steps in front of them sat an empty bucket. Another character, presumably Oscar, turned around from their position to chase back to where Ruby resided on the map.

Walking over, Qrow sat down on the arm of the sofa. “Yang helped me out so everything got done much faster as you can imagine,” he said and took a sip of his coffee.

Oscar’s character over took Ruby’s, successfully retrieving the bucket.

“Oh no,” Jaune didn’t look away from the screen as he spoke, “is this the part where you tell us the bar is no longer standing?”

Qrow opened his mouth to interject.

But Ruby got there first. “Says the guy who almost broke a till earlier today,” she said. Her character finally started moving again.

“In my defence,” Jaune said, tilting his head in consideration, “that thing has mind of its own. It has me fearing for my life and I cannot be blamed for my actions.”

“Can that same logic be applied to when you almost locked us in the car earlier?” Oscar said and both heads turned to him.

Jaune's mouth flopped open. “I—” he began.

“Hey, where’s the bucket?” Ruby said, interrupting as her character rushed around in circle, located near a tap that appeared to be set up outside their spaceship.

“I’ve got it,” Oscar said and explained to her disappointment, “you were taking too long.”

As the responsible adult, Qrow knew he shouldn’t be adding fuel to the fire. But the temptation was hard to resist with Jaune, when he so easily played himself and if asked the right questions, could keep himself going for hours.

“You’ve broken your new car already?” Qrow said to him, feigning a serious tone.

Jaune whipped his head towards him, then back to the screen several times. “It is not broken,” he said, insisting, “I simply hadn’t pushed the child lock button hard enough to unlock the doors.”

“Doggy, no!” Ruby said suddenly. The in-game dog began to lick up at the bucket on the floor.

Qrow carried on, now genuinely curious, “why was the child lock on?”

“Because a child was in the vehicle,” Jaune said, as if that was meant to be obvious.

Qrow and Ruby’s heads glanced each other’s way, one after the other. They shared a telling expression before bursting into laughter. Qrow almost fell off the sofa, he lost his footing and his hot coffee made took close of a leap towards his chest.

Ruby’s character stood still too long on the purple goop and transformed into a purple cocoon as a result. Although, she didn’t appear that bothered by the predicament. “I don’t think that’s how a child lock works?” she said, still laughing.

Jaune grumbled something to himself and walked his character straight past her squirming purple bundle on the screen. It didn’t have quite the same _sulking puppy effect_ with his new haircut. Back then, he could let the blond bangs flop over his eyes like substitute dog’s ears.

“It assuredly isn’t,” Qrow reassured as he shuffled back up the sofa’s arm.

Whining, “typical,” Jaune said, “I try to set a good example for Oscar and this is the thanks I get.”

As if on cue, Oscar, in game through Ruby’s cocoon into the grinder. “Begone, thot,” he said and then, now covered in purple goop himself, went for a battery to end the level.

“Hey!” Qrow redirected his fuel towards Oscar, crossing the non-coffee-holding arm over his chest and straightening up in his seat. He brought forward on that air of authority back from his teaching days. “I will not stand for that kind of language in my house,” he said but the effect seemed to already be wearing off.

“I don’t say words like that at school, don’t worry,” Oscar said, dismissive. “That’s all that matters.”

“That so?”

Oscar turned to look up at him, now the level had ended. “Uhhh, yes,” he said, a little unsure. After a beat, he stuck his tongue out at Qrow, who responded in kind and that resolved the matter.

Ruby turned her head as well. “You want to join us for a game, dad?” She held up her controller, Oscar already following her word and leaning forward to grab the last one sat on the charging bay. “It’s four player,” she said.

Qrow shrugged. “Sure, why not?” Putting down his half empty coffee, he leapt over the sofa to land down next to Oscar and took the controller held out to him.

The controller jabbed the cut on his hand. He had a second to work out a way to comfortably hold it.

They walked Qrow through a smaller size level of the game, just to get him adjusted to the controls and what he needed to do as a character. When they seemed sure he could keep up, Jaune moved them back to the higher level they were previously on.

At a calmer point, all distracted mid-way through the level, Ruby said unprompted, “were you teaching Yang how to do the accounts?”

Qrow replied, “yeah,”

She smiled at that without taking her eyes off the screen.

Qrow didn’t need to turn to see it in the corner of his eye. He never did with her smiles.

“Good,” Ruby said and that unbridled warmth spread through him. He couldn’t remember how many times she’d reminded him to teach Yang once she turned eighteen.

In-game, Qrow threw a bucket of water on several winged alien-bugs at once. “Die, die, die, you sluts!” he said. Except for the dog, the flying ones could only be taken down this way and shot out purple gloop at them until someone did.

“Oh shit, maybe we shouldn’t stay, Neptune,” Sun’s voice came from the door.

Qrow turned his head in time to check the group from the kitchen now filing into the room, drinks in their hands.

Yang came up behind him and bumped his shoulder. She had a lemonade. “I don’t know, I wouldn’t say that description was too far off,” she said.

Sun clutched at his virtually exposed chest in a comical manner. “Wow, way to break my heart there, Yang,” narrowly spilling his drink on himself from the abrupt movement.

Yang walked past and went for the sofa.

“I think she was referring to me there, dude,” Neptune said, patting Sun on the shoulder and moving around to join Yang.

The controller vibrated violently in Qrow’s hands, hitting his cut at just the wrong angle. And with good reason, when he whipped back around, his character had become a cocoon.

Silently, Ruby came to his rescue.

“Of course, you would find that something to be proud of,” Sun said.

Qrow heard someone sit down on the sofa as he watched Ruby’s character take his to the room with a shower in it. “I can’t help it if I’m a hit with ladies,” Neptune said.

A scuffled sounded from behind them and Qrow glanced over in time to watch Yang shove Neptune away from her.

A few seconds later, Qrow’s character had finished their shower and were no longer a cocoon.

Probably clutching his arm and looking very sorry for himself, “ow! Hey, hey, what’s this for?” Neptune said.

“You did say a hit,” Yang said. “And obviously that’s where Blake is going to sit.”

“What if where I want to sit is on you?” Blake asked from the coffee table, barely making it through the sentence before coughing up a chuckle.

“Keep it PG, ladies,” Qrow said and a ripple of laughs came from them all. He smiled to himself, a little satisfied at that.

As they came to the last room of the ship, Yang reached out her leg and nudged Jaune’s head with her socked foot. “Hey you’ve been playing on here for a while now,” she said

He gave her a dirty looked when he saw what she’d touched him with, but she didn’t pull away.

“It’s our turn,” Yang said.

“It’s Oscar’s game so he gets to decide who plays it,” Jaune said, defiantly.

Oscar shrugged. “I don’t mind giving them a chance for a bit.”

Jaune seemed reluctant to give up his hold but when the last battery was slid into place, he handed over his controller to a grinning Neptune.

In the shift around, Qrow used this chance to pull Ruby into a hug. Yang smiled up at them from her spot on the sofa. Ruby didn’t question it until they pulled apart and she saw his face.

“I love you, dad,” she said and he didn’t mind that the others could hear. Practically every head in the room was turned on them, but he didn’t care. A dad didn’t need a reason to hug his daughter.

“I love you too, kiddo,” Qrow said. He looked to the others and said, “I’m gonna go rest up a while until dinner. You kids have fun,” before nabbing his gone cold coffee and heading out of the room. He hoped he didn’t sound too much like an old man but he couldn’t keep up with them all day long. He needed some time to process the day on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> qrow just having a good time with his loving family


	5. Chapter 5

Despite the ever-growing collection of stuff that had acuminated from the ten occupants, their house remained big enough that if someone wanted a little peace and quiet, usually there would be a room somewhere around to grant it. If that failed, however, there was always a space in Taiyang’s wooden lodge across the yard.

Qrow stared at it from the stairway window. A light shone on through curtained windows down on the ground floor. That meant Tai was probably inside the study, marking papers for the night and wouldn’t want to be disturbed until dinner.

Qrow sighed and continued to ascend the rest of the stairs.

As much as he tried to shift it, his mind kept drifting back to the man he met earlier today, Clover. It turned out that lacking the pain to overwhelm him, his thoughts wouldn’t stop going into and lingering in the places he didn’t want it to. Like the smell of something bad, popping up from time to time, yet no matter where he searched, he could never find the source.

It almost made Qrow want to stop taking the ibuprofen. But that pain truly had been too much to bear.

After having it every morning from the very day he quit, Qrow didn’t know if he had any pain receptors left to feel new things. Apparently, it was the other way around. It managed to make any other pain he experienced so much worse, banging his elbow or knee made him sure he’d broken something and little scratches or nips went on for far longer than should have been bodily allowed.

Once the pain had kicked in, the cut on his hand hurt so much more than he remembered from glass. He worried at first if a piece might had gotten lodged under the skin. Thankfully, however, Jaune assessed that not to be the case.

Qrow reached the top of the stairs, more out of breath than would be desired.

In a muffled rumble of speech and music, he could hear Nora and Ren watching a movie in their room, Nora most likely already asleep on Ren’s shoulder.

The furthest door at end was Weiss’. No noise came from there, she must have been reading or quietly studying inside.

Everyone else was accounted for down stairs in the front room.

And, finally, Tai in his own house, for now.

Qrow went for his room. He flicked on the light, closed the door, and, with a barrier between him and the rest of the world, stared at his unmade bed.

The day kept replaying in his head, unstoppable in fact, and he could see himself in his mind’s eyes, watching the multiple screens, eagerly trying to spot a new path or decision that would have led to things turning out different from the way they did.

It didn’t feel over. He couldn’t explain it. Not because of the missed opportunity but something in the air refused to disappear. He couldn’t deny the potential that Clover knew where his bar was and might the decision one day to return. He still felt like he’d woken up from a good dream right before the climax and now sat waiting for it to continue when he went back to bed that night.

As strong as it was, this feeling would run out in a few days and he would get over it.

Normally here would be where Qrow would drink himself silly into blissful oblivion to wind down, before dinner started in a few hours. Then food would soak up most of the alcohol and make him vaguely coherent for the next day ahead.

As a cruel reminder of that, a short pain washed through his head momentarily. Scrunching up his eyes until it passed, he groaned and went to pinch the bridge of nose.

A new pain to ran over his palm as he brought together his fingers. He regarded his palm.

Fiddling with the bandage, Qrow turned back around to face the door. He tried to remember what he used to do to relax back before the alcohol fulfilled that task for him.

Something uncomfortable crept up his shoulders. He hunched over uncontrollably and took a long, deep breath. Not for the first time, he wondered how much of an intrusion he was in, not only his daughter’s life, but in all of their lives.

Yes, Qrow had given them things. He had let them live here, free of charge, because it was the right thing to do. The kids needed somewhere to live for a wide variety of bad or good reasons and he’d been left a huge house to live in, all alone with just one daughter and one son.

This image Qrow painted of himself, an old man hanging out with barely anyone his own age, weighing them down with his own problems, which they only put up with because he provided a need. Because he was Ruby’s father and she wanted him around.

Qrow wanted to ask if they found him as bad as he thought. He wanted to ask if they wished he was gone, that everything would be better and happier if he got cropped out of the picture.

But then bringing up the issue would only burden them further. Because what if it all was actually because of something else, not related to Qrow, and he was just there making about him, after all.

This would be the part when he would bury that thought under a bottle of a heavy, burning liquid.

Qrow caught himself quickly.

He remembered everything Yang said and knew he needed to stop giving into this thought thread. His bad picture wasn’t true, she had verbally confirmed that.

So, lying down in a dark room by himself wasn’t a good idea, Qrow concluded.

He didn’t have enough energy to play more games with the kids, though. Plus, regardless of how they saw him, they probably wanted to enjoy some time to themselves without a miserable, old fart stuck in the corner, watching everything.

Lost in his thoughts, the bandage became loose under Qrow’s fingers and started to come undone in one spot. He took a second to tuck the thread back in.

His bare nails stood out to him suddenly.

He’d gotten rid of bad habits. Now, could be the right time to start up his good ones again.

A distant memory of giving his nail polish bottles away to Ruby, under the notion he would never touch them again. But the line between what he gave away and what he adjusted to being shared with blurred. And, as he was slowly discovering, his problems with memory didn’t stop when he put the bottle down.

There would be a bunch of nail polish in one of the rooms down stairs. The girls liked to keep it together and do each other’s all in one easy spot, before they went out somewhere. Although he couldn’t remember the exact last incidence, he felt sure he’d walked in on them a few times.

There happened to be a lot of rooms around the house people just did things in.

Qrow released the creek from his neck and went down stairs to that room. He switched on the light and, for a moment, nearly gave up on this idea until he could go buy his own. No discarded nail polish bottles sat on the table like he’d hoped and whatever resided in the different sized and styled boxes on the shelf at the back would remain a mystery as nothing was labelled.

He had no idea where to start. He needed to get Tai to sort out this room.

Since the boxes under the table and the ones piled on the opposite side lay in overflooded mess up and around each other, Qrow walked to the cupboards. He really needed to get Tai to sort out this room.

Qrow tested a few of those on eye level.

Thankfully, the third one delivered and, to be safe, he tried the few other boxes around it.

One, all black with purple detailing on it, he assumed it belonged to Ruby especially considering its broken handle, contained a dark red that caught his eye. He took it out and grabbed a clear one from the same box.

If Ruby complained, which he highly doubted, he could always pull the standard, old _father card_.

The kitchen was quiet on approach and, despite the light on inside, he found it to be empty. Qrow set down the bottles the counter top, pulling up a stool. But first, he followed through with age old rule of going to the bathroom first.

The clear base lid got stuck on its bottle, dried on from disuse, and Qrow had to spend the next few minutes using various fabrics around the room to unscrew it. He carefully and slowly brought the brush down to the nail on his thumb.

His hand wouldn’t stop shaking. He thought starting on the biggest base would make a difference but it didn’t. He slumped his shoulders over the counter, but kept going.

Nearly missing the next finger, Qrow reduced the amount on the brush and tried again. He bit back the grunt of frustration at how small his finger nails suddenly felt.

In the end, he had to give into the fact that getting the paint on his nails meant sacrificing the skin around them. So Qrow went at a very slow pace for his other nails. No wonder he gave this up when he could barely do the job now whilst sober.

Gradually Qrow got the first hand done. To his surprise, he got bored waiting for it to dry and started on the other, still wet, old comforts of the task egging him on.

Both hands painted clear with, technically, zero causalities so far. Qrow surfed on his phone as he waited for them to dry.

Testing the last finger he painted, it didn’t feel sticky so he decided to go for the coloured bottle next. That one opened a lot more easily.

Qrow wiped down the excess paint on the bottle lip, as he learnt from the previous round, when a voice came from the direction of the door.

“Ruby, can you go to the loo, at least once, without getting distracted and taking my—?”

Qrow glanced over to see Blake stop in her tracks at the kitchen doorway.

“—oh,” she said, blush colouring her cheeks. “Uncle Qrow, sorry, I thought you were Ruby.”

He shifted around in the stool. “I’ve still got a pair of eyes. What you after, kid?”

Blake didn’t respond straight away. She rubbed at her arm. “One of my nail polish bottles is missing,” she said, “I saw the light to the storage room was on, so I checked inside. I assumed it must have been Ruby, since it’s the red one that got taken.”

Caught just in time, Qrow tried not to look too guilty. “Oh sorry, I thought it was Ruby’s.,” he held up the brush lid of the bottle and Blake’s eyes went wide in realisation, “but my mistake. If you mind me borrowing some, I can wait to go out and buy my own.” He turned around to counter top to screw the lid back on.

“ _You_ took it..?” Blake said, softly. But when Qrow held the bottle out to her, she shook her head, taking a step back. A small smile formed on her face. “No, no, it’s fine. Please, help yourself.”

Qrow retreated his hand and returned the bottle to the kitchen counter. But he didn’t open it, reluctant to believe her. “You sure?” he said. He never tried to imply these kids owned him something for living here, but that still didn’t mean they wouldn’t think that on their own.

“I’m sure,” Blake said, nodding. She relaxed across the whole sole of her feet.

Qrow picked up the bottle, but he spared another second to regard her. “Why did you think I was Ruby?” he said.

Neptune painted his nails on many occasions and Sun did nothing to stop him doing his own, he didn’t need to be Ruby to want the same.

“You kinda look like her from behind,” Blake said.

Qrow raised an eyebrow.

She rushed to add on, “with the hair, now she’s got it short, and the red shirt, only for a second, though. You also have the same shoulders.”

Qrow pulled a face, turning his lips downward. He didn’t mind the prospect of looking like Ruby. There had to be some resemblance, after all.

Turning back to the table, Qrow primed the brush again and went for the thumb. He didn’t miss this time, but the paint swirled over the nail. It looked stupid. And it predicted that balancing out the colour across the whole nail would involve a lot of sacrificing the surrounding skin. He grimaced.

“Um…. Uncle Qrow, do you want me to have a go at it?” Blake said, tentatively.

The thumb was already enough a challenge. Qrow could easily see his fingers becoming an even greater issue with how much he was struggling to keep his hand from shaking.

Not one to admit to defeat, however, he gave her quick glance and shook his head. Plus, they had barely spent any alone time together, this had the potential to be very awkward.

“As kind as that offer is,” Qrow said, “I’m perfectly capable of—” swiping the brush, he missed his finger by a good inch and painted a smudge across the counter.

Blake watched him do that and added, “I really don’t mind.”

“Um, I, okay….” Qrow said, blinking at the polish streak in the hope that it might eventually disappear if he blinked hard enough.

He tried to avoid damaging the bottle in front of its owner as he shoved the lid back on.

Turning to Blake, he offered with a hand and said, “knock yourself out, kid.” He got a towel to wipe up his mess, while she pulled up a stool opposite.

Blake instructed him to place his hand flat on the surface before her. “If we keep your hand down on the counter, that should counteract the shaking,” she said. She took the bottle and refreshed the paint, starting first by fixing his thumb nail.

Qrow watched her silently for a moment. “I just… I’m doing something different that’s not the drinking, and I still suck at it,” he said, trying to keep his annoyance under control but couldn’t deny how much this had started to frustrate him.

Blake finished his thumb saying nothing. The thumb looked perfect now.

Moving onto the next finger, he didn’t expect Blake to say anything.

“You’re better than you think,” she said eventually, “I doubt a week ago, you would have even had the thought to do this. I know better than others, it’s okay to get help until you can do something by yourself.”

Qrow followed suit and continued to soften the situation. “You’re very good at this,” he said, nodding towards his hand, “not that I expected you wouldn’t be…”

Blake offered him a simple smile. “Thanks. Lots of practice helps.”

“Tell me about it, I used to paint my nails all the time as a kid. Despite Raven’s distaste for it, it made me feel special, I suppose,” Qrow shrugged. “A little rebellion is good for the soul.”

“Why’d you give it up now?”

Qrow puffed up his cheeks and blew the air out. “Evidently the drink made it hard to focus. But mostly…. it reminded me of who I used to be, and after Summer... I didn’t feel like remembering that part of me anymore.” After he spoke, he chastised himself. He was meant to be softening the situation.

But Blake appeared to understand. She never seemed to be one to shy away from the denser topics and she had asked him first. Yang and Ruby were in safe hands having a friend like this in their lives, with everything they’d been through from losing Summer, he appreciated it.

But Qrow didn’t need to have experience working with children to know she was still tense. If she didn’t want to be there, he knew she wouldn’t be. But he tried to ease away the awkward tension.

“If you want,” Qrow said and Blake’s ear perked, “we could pop open my old nail polish collection in the attic. I’ve still got some left. See if there’s any colours you’d like.”

She smiled, eyes still on his nails. “That sounds good.”

“And don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you’ve been eyeing up my old book collection,” Qrow said, twirling a light finger in the air, “you know you can help yourself any time.”

Blake popped her head up half way through a nail. “Thank you. I’ll give them a look when I can,” she said. Her shoulders started to relax, her legs rested down further onto the stool. “I really like the covers you have for _One Man Two Souls_. I much preferred the art they had as the series was coming out, compared to what they did when it completely finished. But I could never find them anywhere.”

“Yeah,” Qrow said, “it annoys me that they didn’t continue it to the last one. So I have this whole collection with one book out of place.”

“Oh they did. They have,” Blake’s face light up, assertive. “I’m sure I’ve seen it somewhere.”

“Where, though? I swear I bought the book when it first came out and I couldn’t find the other cover anywhere.”

Blake nodded. “I will find it. I’m sure I’ve seen it somewhere.” She went for his ring finger next.

“Wait,” Qrow pulled his hand back an inch, “leave the ring one. I like to paint it a different colour.”

She gave him a considerate smile and did as asked. Finishing off his other nails, she disappeared off back to the storage to retrieve her entire collection, whilst Qrow was left alone to admit her work.

He bent his fingers over his palms, eyeing each nail. The day he would be able to do this himself was one he looked forward to.

“What do you want?” Blake said, coming back into the room. She placed the black and red box on the table. Opening it up, she picked out a few colours. “I’ve got a nice purple that’s just as dark.”

From this new angle, Qrow could see the other shapes on the box. The red detailing had been from a selection of different animal stickers, a red wolf, a purple cat, a yellow bird. He knew if he’d only given it a second glance, he never would have thought it belonged to Ruby. She loved animals, but didn’t have a way with them like Blake did.

Qrow’s eyes moved to the contents of the box and back to the question at hand.

As much of a distraction as this was, his mind did keep creeping back to his original thoughts of the day before. And of Clover. That being the case, he decided to indulge in it for the moment.

“I like that green,” Qrow said, pointing to a dark, sparkly green at the corner. “If you’re comfortable sharing it?”

Blake snatched it up. “Green it is then.”

Lost in concentration, she was finishing the second ring finger, when Qrow watched bright blonde hair blur past the door way. He abruptly remembered Blake said she had been passing through from somewhere else, it made sense that eventually someone would come looking for her.

Ecstatic, Yang jumped her two feet apart, a soft enough impact in her socks they couldn’t be heard. Before Qrow even noticed, she had already pulled her phone out and taken a picture. “Oh gods, you guys look so cute,” she said, peeking out behind the phone. “Let me get another picture.”

Blake threw out her hand too late. “Yang, no!”

“No point, I’ve taken three pics already,” Yang grinned. She flipped her phone back to vertical and her thumb glided over the screen. “Aww, look at how focused on Qrow’s hand you are. Come on, it was too perfect not to capture,” she said and turned it around to show them.

Blake tilted her head. “Okay, I’ll agree with you a little on that one.”

“Wouldn’t have taken it otherwise,” Yang said.

“Let me see,” Qrow held out his hand and carefully took the phone. He couldn’t see it clearly from that far away.

On closer inspection, the picture showed himself looking to Blake as she hunched over his hand, delicately painting his last bare finger. Expressions genuine and completely unaware of the photography, it looked like a moment locked in time.

Qrow handed back the phone. “Send me that,” he said.

“Oh, it’s going in the group chat,” Yang’s expression sparkled with a fiery mischief.

This time Blake moved up to stop her and grasp at her phone. “No, Yang!” she said, laughing. The grin shone vibrant on her face and with no real attempt to stop her, she hugged Yang’s side.

“Too late.”

Qrow’s phone buzzed from where it sat on the counter top beside him. His eyes drifting over to it meant he spotted the abandoned nail polish brush in time as it dripped a blob of polish on the surface top.

Qrow grabbed at it. “Watch out, Blake, it’s getting on the counter again,” he said.

“Oops, sorry.” Blake darted back to the table to take back the brush. She reached across to grab a paper towel. “Let me get that.” Sliding the towel across, she wiped up all the excess in one sweep.

Only after, did Qrow realise the risk he’d taken on ruining Blake’s work. A quick check showed he got lucky and each nail remained relatively unaffected.

Gesturing, Blake asked for his hands and Qrow held them out with fingers spread wide. She examined both of them herself and used the moment to finish off his last nail.

Qrow positioned his hands down on the counter after to keep them safe.

“And here we have a highly rare sight,” all three heads turned at the sound of Tai’s voice. Normally, his dog warned of his presence. But Zwei had probably gone for the front room instead where he could get the most attention.

Tai came into the kitchen with a slow, wide walk, his hands circled around his eyes as fake binoculars to emulate a wildlife observer, terrible accent and all. “A wild cat sitting in uncommon surroundings. And what else do we have here?”

Yang had already started giggling. Inherited her father’s terrible sense of humour, it would seem.

As much as she looked away, Blake had a small smile on her lips.

“They appear to be working closely with, what’s that?” Tai moved his fake binoculars over to Qrow. “I do believe it’s a dusty old bird, a _crow_ in fact,” he said. Clearly having finished his paperwork, he’d come to bother everyone else in Qrow’s house instead.

Qrow tilted his head, glaring at him. “Very funny, Tai,” he said.

Tai continued on completely unphased, “long considered enemies now working side-by-side to complete a complicated task.”

Overcoming her mirth, Yang jumped into the joking stance alongside him with the same fake binoculars. “We need to approach them very carefully and slowly—”

“Yang, you too?” Blake said, pleading. A full-blown laugh escaped her lips.

“—Or else any sudden movements could startle them. Even from such a distance the wild cat is already beginning to notice our presence.”

“I’m going to notice a lot more from you in a minute,” Blake swatted at the air, while trying to quell her own amusement. She got up and swiftly removed Yang’s binoculars, linking them with her own hands and forcing them down to her sides.

Yang fought the grip and ended up locked in a hug. Both girls giggling as one tried to tickle the other.

Qrow stood up himself and approached Tai, who backed away in defence against the fridge, understanding perfectly well after what they had both witness, what he was implying next.

“You can’t or else you’ll ruin your nails, little birdy,” Tai said as warning.

“Yeah, you wanna find out.” Qrow kept on his approach.

Tai gulped and held up his hands.

Qrow used his drier hand to pull Tai in and managed to wrap an arm around his head. Carefully he rubbed the knuckles of his other hand into his head, constricting his fingers in a way that wouldn’t squish the nails.

Tai carried on the bit as he fought with Qrow to get him off. “it appears we have gotten too close, _ugh_ , and the wild cat and the bird have spotted us, Yang. They, _ugh_ , now threaten the very safety of our lives. Save yourself!”

He released Tai when the playfulness wore out and, within the second he did, Tai locked himself around Qrow’s middle, seeking revenge.

Qrow took it as the perfect opportunity to call everyone in the room as his defence to help make dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The RT crew actually sung the song from the title of this fic on their latest ep of the witcher Minecraft, which was coincidentally uploaded on my birthday :D
> 
> it all comes full circle


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally the return of clover

Qrow couldn’t remember the last time he could breathe this well. He couldn’t remember the last time he could cook food, or watching someone else do so, and then go on to taste every single ingredient. Although, that might have been exaggerated somewhat…

In the last few years, there had been a number of important moments that completely slipped past him. But none of that mattered anymore, because he would make sure to remember the current years going forward now.

The pain faded. It felt like it would never leave, but Qrow started to wake up in the morning without thinking his head had mysteriously been knocked about the night previous. He didn’t need to wear sunglasses every day, and finally went a week without taking a single pain killer. Blake had been right; he could paint his own nails once again.

Not only that Qrow could stay up later, spend more time with his family. He could become reliable again.

And there were still bad days, especially with the severity of his recovery. He was trying to get better at dealing with them. Perhaps, they only felt so bad because he now had the better days to compare them to.

They kept the bar closed on a Sunday, usually it was their lowest day in terms of sales, to give everyone a little time for themselves in between shifts. Qrow decided to spend his shopping and refilling the fridge for the week ahead.

That was what responsible adults did these days.

Being one of the few people still in the house, he threw a text Yang’s way if she wanted to join him and didn’t receive a reply as he, instead, heard someone descend loudly down the stairs.

“Do I have to come?” Yang’s voice came from behind the fridge.

Sighing, Qrow closed the door to reveal her form in the doorway.

She tilted her head to the side, hands on her hips, acting like he’d just asked her to help him carry a large rock up the local hill or something. Not come along on a shopping trip.

Qrow needed her. He rarely ever went shopping these days, where he bought little enough to get it all out of the shop by himself. This was the case while he lived in a household of ten occupants.

“I promise not to take up your whole day, firecracker,” Qrow said. He flicked through his paper list one last time, nothing new came to mind, before heading to grab his keys from the bowl at the front door.

Despite her reluctance, Yang appeared to follow him out to the foyer.

“It shouldn’t be like last week,” Qrow said, “when I had to buy back half the fridge ’cause Jaune and Ruby decided they wanted a feast to go with their causal Saturday night game. But it’ll still be a lot and I could use the help.”

Through a breathy laugh, “that was at least a three weeks ago,” Yang pointed out. “And I’m pretty sure, just those two couldn’t eat the whole fridge. Even if they really did try.”

“I’m sure,” Qrow said, agreeing. “But they were definitely the leaders in that entire operation,” he said, pulling on his jacket. Wincing a little when it got caught on his dangling ear. He took a moment to check and sort that out, still not used to wearing them again.

“You sound like dad,” Yang said.

Qrow huffed. “Say that like it’s a bad thing.” He did a final pat down check for his wallet, then looked to Yang. “You coming or not?”

She huffed herself and dropped her arms. “Go on, then. I got nothing better to do.” With that, she went to retrieve her coat upstairs.

He watched her disappear upwards and out of sight. “The dragon needs to leave her nest of gold at some time!” he called after.

“Don’t push your luck!” Yang said, shouting back down at him from over the balcony.

Qrow let out a quiet laugh for no one in particular to hear and headed outside to his car. He had the engine started and was reversing out into their yard when Yang arrived out the front door.

Sunglasses on her forehead, she wore that brown leather jacket that refused to meet her hips. She walked up to the still moving car and plonked herself into the passenger seat.

Qrow then brought them to a complete stop and glanced at her. “You forget anything?”

“Don’t think so.”

“Last chance.” Qrow shifted the car into first and pulled his foot up off the clutch.

“Just drive, Uncle Qrow,” Yang said, flipping her sunglasses down over her eyes.

Traffic wasn’t too bad. They made it there in easy time.

Yang grabbed the trolley as they walked up to the entrance, rather than get one from the area to the side. She liked to grab it from the shelters dotted around the car park since, as she put it, that helped the staff later on in the day since then they had one less trolley to put away. Qrow remembered this habit from back when they used to go on shopping trips in primary school and was happy she hadn’t lost it so far.

They both reviewed the list inside. Yang grumbled at the fact Qrow wrote it down on a piece of paper and took a picture, for in case they got separated.

“We might end up picking the same items that way,” Qrow said to that.

“Try to avoid losing sight of me.”

In this supermarket store that remained a high probability. The place stood larger than their entire garden, yard, and both houses combined. And it didn’t help Qrow’s phone barely ever had signal inside.

One-by-one, they slowly collected the items on the list. To make things a little quicker, they did split up. But only in small sections, making sure to keep to a few aisles each time.

On his own, Qrow wondered down the milk aisle, eyeing up the various colours of the milk lids. The other problem with living in a house of ten occupants was that a large number of people meant a large number of tastes to acquire to.

Qrow started at the top. He reached for a small milk carton on the top shelf.

“Whoa, no, shit—”

As he brought it down, the little bastard slipped from his grip. His bad luck even had to have an effect in here. Qrow was vaguely aware of a presence closing in from behind, perhaps someone noticing his actions. In a split second of watching the carton fall, he dreaded the idea of how it would crack open and spill all over the shop floor, how he would awkwardly have to get a staff member to clean it up.

But the carton never met the ground.

Lucky for him, someone reached out and grabbed it in perfect timing.

“Glad to see you’re just as clumsy in every situation. It’s not only a thing for you at work,” someone said.

Qrow almost didn’t recognise the voice before he looked up to its owner.

When he locked eyes with the man he met on Pride day a few weeks back, in all honesty to himself, Qrow forgot how to speak. “I, uh— what?” he stammered out the words on a rushed breath.

“Sorry,” Clover said. His free hand dove into his hair, sticking the elbow out. He still wore gloves like the last time they met, with a brown leather jack on and a green shirt. No pins luck-themed pins this time. “I know that line was sorta cheesy. But I spotted you an aisle back and simply couldn’t resist. Had to say something.” After a moment he held out the milk carton to Qrow.

Qrow’s eyes drifted down towards it. He didn’t take the carton. He couldn’t move. “Um, am I dissociating? I’ve got to be,” he said.

Clover let out a gentle chuckle and it sounded like liquid gold. “I did wonder the same thing when I saw you,” he said, appearing unable to stop the grin on his face. “Due in par to the fact, when we met before, I wanted to get your number. But me and Ops had to leave before I could properly build up to that.”

Unmoving, Qrow continued to gawk at him. He gradually realised that would turn out to be the wrong action to be doing.

In an instant, Clover’s shoulders lowered slightly and the curve of his smile started to droop. He dropped his arm to his side. “I can understand, of course,” he said, “if misinterpreted the whole situation.”

“My phone,” Qrow said, abruptly pushing the words out of his mouth. He shook his head and forced control back onto his limbs. He then reached down to pull his phone out as to avoid looking like a man who would randomly announce his possessions. “Uh, let me get my phone,” and that too slipped from his grip, clattering to the ground, “—gah, shit! I’m sorry.” Qrow bent down to pick it up.

“At least it didn’t crack the screen,” Clover observed.

“Yeah,” Qrow said. His knees clicked as he straightened up. His face started to rapidly heat up, when did it get so hot in here next to the open fridges? His hand darted up to the back of his neck, scratching at the sudden itch prickling along the skin there. “I smashed up my last phone real bad,” he said as an attempt to ease into this situation more smoothly.

Clover, for the most part, took the bite. “Ah, I hope it wasn’t a new one at the time,” he said. He retrieved his own phone, pushing a few times on the screen, and handed it over to Qrow with its number on display.

“No, but it still worked so I kept it around for a while.” Not looking up, Qrow began to copy the number over to his and vice visa. He wrote his full name into Clover’s phone.

“I’ll bet you started to regret that decision pretty quickly?”

“Yep,” Qrow said, popping his lips on the last syllable. “The one I got before that, I cracked to the point the screen didn’t work.” About to hand the phone back to him, he realised something. “What’s your surname?”

Clover furrowed his brow.

Qrow promptly added, “just in case I happen to meet another Clover and get his number, too.”

Another smile tugged at the corner of Clover’s mouth. “Ebi,” he said. He took back his phone and returned it to his pocket. Taking a step back, he gestured away. “So sorry, I’m actually on a bit of a time limit right now, duty calls.” He put the milk back on a random shelf and stepped around Qrow. “I’ll message you later, though.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Qrow said. No idea where that sentence came from.

Twirling around on one foot so he kept facing him, Clover flicked two fingers from off his forehead. “Good to see you again, Qrow.”

“You too, Clover.”

Clover’s gaze flicked down. “Nice nails, by the way.”

Qrow looked to them as well, “uh, I, thanks,” he said.

He shot Qrow a wink and then finally disappeared around the aisle without another word.

Qrow stood there for a clear moment, trying to process what had just occurred. Getting his heartrate down to normal levels again, he smiled to himself. A new buzz of excitement in his veins, he spun around to find Yang staring in shock at the other end of the aisle.

“Am I hallucinating?” she said on approach.

The excitement bubbled up inside Qrow, he couldn’t help bursting into giddy laughter.

“Was that the man you met at Pride the other day just coincidentally appearing in the same shop as you at the exact right time?” Yang said.

Qrow still couldn’t believe it himself. “Yes,” he said, with a grin. He held up his phone with a joyful shake of the hand, “and I also got his number.”

“Huh what is the luck of that?”

For once Qrow was inclined to agree with her.

About a month ago, he decided to go completely sober, no more alcohol, complete cold turkey. So far, it seemed the universe did have a funny way of showing its support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of what would have been chapter 1 so it might be a little while before I do another burst of chapters, chapter 2 is a chunky boi


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapter hasn't taken me this long to write, i just fell out of rwby for a bit, revisited like the first fandom i was ever in, lol
> 
> and this barely qualifies as a worthy update, sorry (but who cares? bar like 30 folks, no one is reading this anyways)
> 
> so i might get some other new stuff up in a few days, depends on how i'm feeling

Qrow received a text from Clover as soon as he left the store. He heard and felt the phone buzz from his pocket while pulling the car out of the parking bay. He began moving across the car park.

Yang gave him a distinctive sideways glance, but didn’t say anything on the matter.

They arrived home in good time. Once all the grocery bags were plonked in the kitchen and Yang, instead of helping, had disappeared upstairs to find her newly returned sister, Qrow pulled out his phone to read the message. He let her go because he did really want to see this message and could do without her teasing, for the time being.

_Hey, are you free on Friday evening? ;)_

Qrow glanced up at the calendar on the kitchen wall, even though he knew nothing would be written on there. If he asked, it would be pretty easy to get someone else to cover for him, so Yang didn’t have to close up alone for the day. She would do it just fine, but Qrow made a promise to be there and wanted to keep it to some extent.

He needed to clarify a little first. _A date?_

A few seconds later, his phone chimed. _Yes, I should have said. It can be just a drink to start slow_.

Qrow relaxed onto the kitchen counter and leant his head on one hand. _That sounds great, actually. If that’s what you want. What time were you thinking_?

Clover: _I can pick you around 4 - 7pm, take you somewhere nice, then even have you back by 9pm_.

Qrow: _Wouldn’t want me out after curfew_.

Clover: _I’ll endeavour to be a gentleman_.

Qrow found himself smiling down at his phone screen. A creak from the stairs out in the hallway brought his attention back to what he needed to originally organise, firstly.

He sent a message back. _This all sounds lovely. But before we get our hopes up, let me get my shift covered at the bar, then I’ll get back to you_.

Qrow got up to go see who had come downstairs and still within a foot of the kitchen counter, his phone chimed once more. Qrow rushed back to look.

 _Okay ;) I’ll be waiting_.

When he returned to hallway, Qrow caught the tail end of Ruby and Weiss disappearing into the front room. He went for it and nabbed Ruby before she settled on the sofa with the others, asking where any of the boys or Nora were.

She clarified Jaune happened to be upstairs, so that decided his first port of call. She didn’t ask what this was about, or anything about Clover and what happened while out shopping.

Qrow thanked her for the info, dashing up the stairs to Jaune’s room.

The room seemed quiet on approach, but he could vaguely make out the sounds of talking inside. Jaune must have been on the phone or something. Qrow could hear the low voice of his and someone else’s higher toned, occasional laughter. Probably on a skype call with one of his many sisters. Qrow couldn’t remember their names, let alone assign one to each sibling.

Although, it sounded more like Jaune’s girlfriend, Pyrrha Nikos, who was currently studying abroad. They’d tied the knot on the way to the airport and surprisingly kept it up so far. Whenever Qrow had spoken to her before, he’d always felt like he’d been talking to someone twice his own age. But maybe that was Jaune’s occasional immaturity offsetting her slightly.

Arriving at the door, he knocked on the wooden frame.

Both the voices on the other side immediately stopped.

Knocking again, Qrow raised his voice to be heard through the frame, “Jaune, are you busy? It’s Qrow, I need to ask you for something.”

“Uh, give me a minute!” Jaune shouted back. He could hear the ping of a mattress spring as someone fumbled to get up off the bed. Something scrapped past the door and then a short deliberate silence, before Jaune opened the door wrapped in his dressing gown, hair a little out of place. “Qrow, yes, hi, wh-what did you want to talk about?” he said.

“I, um...” Qrow said, starting to speak. Past Jaune, he could see Jaune’s laptop half-lidded, but not shut, on his bed. “Not interrupting something?”

“Of course not,” Jaune said, his insistent being as transparent as glass. “No, you’re not interrupting a single thing. I was just …getting changed.”

In the moment, Qrow decided he didn’t want to know, so left it at that. “Sure,” he said, getting back to the reason behind his interruption of Jaune _getting changed_. “Would it be possible for you to cover my shift on Friday? Yang can close up on her own now so you’d only be an extra person around to help.”

“Um,” Jaune ducked his head and pulled at the sleeve of his dressing gown. “Uncle Qrow, normally I would be very willing to help… but I’m afraid I have a date night planned that night with Pyrrha. We’ve had it in the works for a while now, it’s only time she has free and we plan to study as well as watch something that’s playing live, so there’s no room for rescheduling. Sorry I can’t be of more help.”

Qrow ignored the trickle of disappointment running down his chest. It wasn’t right on him to assume this would be sorted so quickly. He dismissed him with the wave of hand. “No, no, that’s understandable,” he said. “You two have your night. I wouldn’t want to disturb it.”

Jaune smiled weakly. “Thanks.” Something came from his laptop that sounded distinctively like a person coughing on the other end of a skype call and he froze, face suddenly burning red. He could have played it off but that was never Jaune’s style.

Qrow mercifully gave him a chance to recover. He really _really_ didn’t want to know. Whoever he’d been talking to, they had only been doing just that. Only _talking_ , no specific imagery ever came from that. “You have any idea when Nora and Ren will be back” he said, pretending not to have heard it, “so I can ask them?”

“Uh,” Jaune glanced behind him, “no, I don’t but I’ll text them for you.” Darting carefully to his bed to retrieve his phone, he flicked the screen on.

“Cheers, kid,” Qrow said and watched him type something out. He tried desperately to keep his mouth shut, nearly bit his lip, but he honestly couldn’t help himself. He had to, at least, _rib_. “Well then, I’ll leave you to your internet lovemaking,” assuming confidently Pyrrha was who Jaune would have been talking to, and not one of his sisters.

A very pleasant girl who’d returned to half way across the world for the time being while she finished his university studies.

Jaune’s eyes went wide. His blush darkened to the point one could worry he might faint from all the blood rushing to a single spot. “Oh, no, I was not—w-w-we were just… talking and talking only… with all our-our clothes on, definitely all on…” he said, spluttering the words out as he came forward. As if putting distance between him and the half-lidded laptop would prove his point.

Qrow chuckled. He planted his hand firmly on his shoulder. “I believe you, kid,” he used that hand to pull him in a little closer so Pyrrha wouldn’t hear on the other end, if she could hear at all. “But if that’s the case, maybe get a lock for the door with Ruby and Nora running around. Remember, they often don’t even knock.”

Jaune became a solid pillar of bodily tension. “Of course. Sound advice, Uncle Qrow,” he said, nodding.

Qrow released his hand and couldn’t help adding a cherry to top it all off. “Say hi to Pyrrha for me,” he gave with a wink.

Jaune ducked his head. “U-h-uh, yes, I shall…”

A songful “sorry!” came from Jaune’s drooping, dimly lit laptop. Turned out she could hear them.

Qrow left him there at that, a chuckle in his chest again.

¬

After barely an hour had passed since they got home, Qrow was unsure exactly how he ended up in this position.

Finishing his conversation with Jaune, he had descended downstairs to unpack their groceries. Gotten a good deal through unpacking and sorting out the fridge, when his daughter, followed by his niece, and their two lovely friends appeared to what he presumed, at first, was to help unpack.

But when it really got down to it, these girls could get something from nearly nothing pretty quickly by working together. They could get blood from a stone, if that was what they wanted.

They each picked a bag and began stuffing the contents into the fridge and appropriate cupboards.

Or in Ruby’s case opening up the first biscuit packet she came across and stuffing a few in her face.

She approached Qrow from the side. “Dad, what did you want to talk with Jaune about?” she said, mouth full. The look in her eyes reminded him of whenever her mother, Summer, would want something she knew he and Tai might not agree with.

“Getting my shift covered for Friday,” Qrow said. “But he’s gonna be busy that day.”

Yang appeared at his other side. “Why do you need a shift covered? I can always do it whenever it is.” Her eyes went up in thought, “except next Tuesday. Don’t think I can do that day. Or Saturday, this week…”

Qrow turned to her. “You’re already working this Friday,” he said, “that’s why I’m not leaving you alone without at least someone else to help.”

“Life isn’t set in stone,” Weiss said. She spoke from behind the fridge door, passing herself items from the bag to the other hand and then into the fridge. “What’s so perpetual that you can’t simply do it on your day off?”

“Well the hope is,” Qrow said on an exhale, his heart abruptly making itself known and already fluttering at the entire concept. “I’ll be going on a date.” He saw all four heads turn towards him in the corner of his eye. Before they could interrupt, he added, “I’m assuming Yang told you. And that’s why you’re here. I bumped into that guy I met on Pride. The one with the whole luck aesthetic going on.”

“And he had fantastic biceps,” Yang said, nudging his forearm. She pulled at her sleeve, bending her arm at the elbow to flex her arm mockingly. As she spoke, she reenacted her words, “he came in and caught the milk carton you dropped like a majestic Prince from one of Blake’s crappy romance novels.”

“Hey!” Blake threw in from the other side of the room. “The word you’re looking for is _sappy._ They’re sappy – perhaps, a little cheesy – but they are not crappy.”

After a moment of thought, Yang abandoned the pasta sauces she’d been sorting through to cross the room towards Blake. Wherein, she wrapped her arms around her waist as an apology, resting her head on his shoulder with a pouty expression. With a pet on the head from Blake, she was forgiven.

Qrow’s attention got pulled away then.

“I’m glad,” his daughter said, still beside him, “you seemed kinda bummed out when he left.” Ruby smiled softly.

“You could call it that,” Qrow said in reply.

Originally he had blamed it on the alcohol recovery. But moving on from this _one-that-got-away_ scenario regarding Clover, a man up until today he didn’t know the surname of, took a lot longer to get past than he initially thought. And with a lot more internal pain, for sure. In his darker days during the two-week period, he’d let that negativity bleed into other parts of his life and had even listened, for a while, to the dark voice that pondered, what else would slip through his fingers.

“Should be nice for you to hang out with someone other than Taiyang,” Ruby said, continuing. “You got a date with him then?”

“Hope so. I still need this shift covered.” Qrow finished his unpacking and moved onto the final bag, bar the one Yang had previously abandoned.

“Don’t worry we’ll solve that,” Weiss said, remaining at the fridge. She threw out a dismissive hand. “I could just stay longer until Yang ’s finished.”

“Please don’t go out of your way,” Qrow said, the guilt tugging at the hairs on the back of his neck. “I’m sure Clover will be fine waiting another week, if it comes to that.” At least he hoped so. Nothing so far had indicated Clover would be the type to get complacent this soon. They could always talk online for a while, get to know each other like that, where both had plenty of time to think out nice replies.

“He might be fine,” Ruby added, “but you rarely go out for anything other than to shop. You deserve this.”

Sometimes he wondered how much of Summer’s cheeky nature Ruby inherited physically, rather than picked up on subconsciously as a child.

Qrow blinked. “I, uh…. that is not entirely true,” he said, dumbstruck.

Ruby stepped back with a hand on her hip. She tiled her head in consideration. “It’s pretty true.”

“Hey, it’s not like Tai goes out either,” Qrow said, defensively.

“Yeah, he does,” came from Yang.

Qrow turned his head to her. “Work doesn’t count.”

“It doesn’t count for you either then,” Blake countered. She finished her bag, Yang still wrapped around her middle.

“I go out for a number of things,” Qrow said, still insisting.

“Sure, sure, dad,” Ruby said. “So, where are you gonna go with Clover?”

“Because, of course, Vale has the best city life,” Blake said with mild distain. That made sense. He always noticed how she was the one who stuck around inside the house the most. Many a time had Qrow thought he would be the last left in the house, only for Blake to appear out of nowhere to come make herself some tea or prepare food.

“I think he’s deciding that,” Qrow said on a shrug.

“Has he not said where he wants to go yet?”

“Uh, yeah. Let me check.” Qrow nabbed his phone from where he’d discarded it earlier on the counter. Flicking on the screen brought him straight to his texts with Clover, since he was yet to go onto anything else. He took a second to find and read it. “He just said he wants to go out for drinks. And that it can be on Friday.”

Ruby asked, “what time?”

“We haven’t organised that yet.”

She blinked at him. “Well… organise it. And go out, have fun.”

“I still need this shift covered, Ruby,” Qrow said, flatly.

“It’s covered,” Ruby threw out her arms, “respond to _Mr. Four Leaf_.” She then flicked her hands by the wrists encouragingly at him.

Doing this now apparently, Qrow clicked on phone, illuminating up the message box, and typed out a reply: _my shift is covered. What time to meet up would be best for you? Between 4 – 7pm, you said?_ He tried not to think about the wording too much.

From where she still stood by the fridge, Weiss abruptly directed her frown at Ruby, “who?” she questioned.

Ruby turned towards her. “That would be his surname,” she said as a way of explanation, which judging from the look on Weiss’ face didn’t explain a thing. Ruby half twirled back towards her dad for a moment, “if has one. Why wouldn’t he have one?”

“He has one.” Qrow tilted his phone screen towards her, indicating to the name at the top. “I asked when getting his number.”

Weiss left the inside of the fridge from the need to pursue this further. “Ruby, how does that work?” she said. Her hand loosened enough that the fridge door became freed and slammed shut with a plastic thump. “It would be _Clover Four-Leaf_?”

“No, _Four-Leaf Clover_ ,” Ruby said rather innocently. “The plant. Or is it a weed? It’s a weed, isn’t it? No offence to him, I’m sure he’s lovely and not a weed.”

“Yes,” Weiss said, hands on her hips, her braid fell forward over one forearm.

And Ruby beamed at what she believed was Weiss agreeing with her. But as she spoke more, Ruby’s smile slowly faded.

“But you said _Mr. Four Leaf_ making that his surname, making that come after his first name, Clover. Therefore, _Clover Four-Leaf_.”

At that, Ruby tensed up like someone dropped an ice cube down her shirt. “Does making your point so viciously warm the icy tundra of your heart?” she said, voice hoarse.

Weiss half-smiled. “In fact, it does.” Then she turned immediately on Qrow, who stepped back somewhat startled at the sudden attention change. “Right, depending on what time this is happening on Friday, you have a good few days to save this.” Weiss pointed a firm finger in his direction.

Following it, Qrow glanced down at his chest. “My shirt?” He certainly wouldn’t be wearing this on the date. This shirt had three extra stains than normal and was a bit too baggy for a date scene. He hadn’t really dwelled on that side of things yet, about what he would wear.

“Uncle Qrow, I’m highly aware that currently the nicest clothes you own are your work clothes,” Weiss said.

A sparkle flashed across Ruby’s eyes. “You know what that means?” she said, hands in the air. “Shopping trip!”

“Clover met me in my work clothes,” Qrow said in a vague defence, “so why wouldn’t they be fine?”

Yang perked up at that and her eyes went wide with alarm. “If you show up on a date wearing your work clothes,” she said, “he’s gonna think they’re the only good clothes you own.”

“But you just said—”

“I know what I said,” Weiss stopped his words at a firm wave of her hand, “but you can change that. _As I said_ , it’s not too late. And you’re certainly not going to woo any man in crummy, most likely stained t-shirt and trousers.”

Qrow flinched a little from her words. She was right but it still hurt to hear. He really should have seen this coming.

As soon as a Schnee set their sights on anything in life, they didn’t stop until they achieved it and the other girls appeared very willing to join her. His past interactions and conversation with Winter should have taught him this as much.

“I’ll gladly do your make up and nails again,” Blake added softly.

Ruby nodded her way. “Leave it to us, dad. And, oh maybe,” that sparkle flashed up in her eyes once again, “we’ll have Clover falling in love with you on your very first date.”

Qrow took a deep breath, ready for the onslaught, evidently with no means of fighting them.

¬

All that sorted, there was only one person left to talk to.

Crossing the space between his house and the wooden lodge, Qrow let himself in, brushing off his shoes and heading inside. He knocked firmly on Tai’s office door. If he got lucky, he might think it was one of the girls knocking, instead of him.

“Come in, Qrow,” Tai said from the other side.

In a flood of disappointment, Qrow pre-emptively popped his head in through the gap of the door to find Tai sat at his desk. “How the hell did you know it was me?” he said. Tai didn’t look up at him. “Do I—I don’t, uh… it’s not… ’cause I still stink of booze?”

“No, it’s not,” Tai said, firmly, pausing his work and spinning in his chair to face Qrow. He went on to explain, “you walk very differently from all the kids. Plus Zwei didn’t pipe up so it had to be you.”

Said dog did pipe up then at the sound of his own name, but that soon faded when nothing else followed.

Qrow let out the air from his lungs.

He had spent a good portion of his days off in the last week going through old clothes with Ruby and Nora to find all the ones that still smelt _bad_ , and then subsequently throwing them through a wash, if possible, or sent them off to be dry cleaned, in the case of a nice leather jacket that somehow still fit, from Qrow’s younger days. Both girls had laughed at him when he’d put it on, but changed their tune very quickly when he offered to throw it away. In the final result, they’d discovered the large carpet in Qrow’s room seemed to a main source of the alcoholic stink, chucked out one bed sheet Qrow had threw up on at some point, and washed nearly five different loads of clothing.

No matter what, he didn’t want anything tempting him back to his old ways. He knew it would never be that simple. But no one in the house, as of yet, had disagreed with these ideas he’d put forward, so he must have been doing something right.

“What do you need?” Tai asked, bringing down that chain of thought.

“Uh, um, well,” Qrow said. He took a breath and thought of the right phrasing, “I was wondering if you could be on call to pick Oscar up from school this Friday?”

Tai appeared visibly confused, but nothing akin to hesitation. “Of course, I can. Why are you asking me though?” He had to know, of course.

“Well, Jaune is busy that night and Yang might be held back at the pub. I don’t want him left waiting for her to show up. You know how his drama classes can be sometimes, they’ll just cut short.”

Tai nodded. “Yeah that’s fine, but you still haven’t answered my question,” his teacher intuition not letting him let it go. “What’s stopping you from being there to pick him up?”

“I have a date,” Qrow said as plainly as he could.

“Like a real one?” Tai said, slowly. “With a real person, not just a sex… meet?”

“Yes, a real person.”

“Who wants to go on a real date, with you?”

“Yes.”

“Who’s the unlucky gal? Or guy, sorry?” he said, correcting himself quickly like he wasn’t among one of the queerest people Qrow knew currently. “Who is the unlucky _person_?”

An awkward tension stepped in between them.

“Did I mention that guy I met at work on Pride?” Qrow said, clearing it off. To Tai’s clueless expression, he went on further, “he helped clear up some glass, caught me when I’d tripped over… he came in with a youth group thing…”

“Vaguely, yeah.”

Qrow knew the girls wouldn’t have told him yet about their reunion. And if they had, Tai definitely wouldn’t have read the messages because his one-track mind kept him focused on the papers he needed to mark until they were completely marked. Even Zwei had gotten used to his merciless work method.

Tai gave Qrow an indication to carry on.

“He… bumped into me,” Qrow said, “just now, on a shopping trip with Yang and asked for my number.”

Tai took a second to process that exact information. “Oh whoa, when did you get so,” he realised what he was saying as he said it, “lucky?”

Qrow exhaled on a small laugh. He couldn’t believe it himself. “Yeah, I know. He seems really interested in me for some reason… somehow.”

“Don’t be so surprised, you’re an alright fella.”

“Says the man just trying to justify his own past relationship with me.”

“Oh, of course,” hand to his chest, Tai couldn’t look modest even when really trying. The infamous _Dragon Charm_ operated on mostly passion and goofiness and nothing else, certainly not the smooth words Qrow could process even in his most intoxicated state. There were enough sore memories of Raven between them to prove that so. “But regardless, we both know” Tai said, “something must have made push below my weight.”

Abruptly, Qrow was overcome with a surging want to throw the nearest heavy object at Tai. But settled, instead, for a steely-eyed expression, getting the point across that he could if he wanted and might do something just as bad or painful later.

Tai drew up a hard expression of his own to imply he could take it.

“Thanks for the sudden cover anyways,” Qrow said, cutting everything short, “I’m gonna be sure to plan well ahead in the future, next time. I’ll let you know when dinner’s starting if you’re not out by then.” This settled, he backed away out of the room.

“Cheers.” Tai let the door nearly close all the way, before he called out again. “And, Qrow?” he said.

Qrow stopped, pushed the door back open an inch, enough to indicate he was listening. He couldn’t see Tai’s face, however.

Tai seemed to think that was enough. That he knew Qrow was still there. “You didn’t say it - but I know you’re thinking it, since _it’s you_ ,” he said from the other side of the door, “but you don’t… need to feel so responsible for everything you do in this family. We can help out and you’re not asking the world.”

“I know,” Qrow said, quietly, not looking back.

A lie. He didn’t.

But he was trying to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, you could even say it's be..... you could say it's been.......... that it's been.........it's ....................... been ....................................awhile
> 
> your thoughts as always will be well appreciated <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda happy with this one, emphasis on 'kinda'

The nerves didn’t really hit Qrow until he stood outside this café Clover had selected, patiently waiting for him to show up.

Abruptly, his necklace and his shirt felt too tight across his throat and chest. He pushed at his rolled-up sleeves to get them a bit higher, trying to quell the buzzy feeling zipping around in his chest with a few deep breaths. He’d been thinking about this all day, during the kids helping him dress up, the drive over, and now stood where he was, waiting.

The humid air kept Qrow from getting too cold, while also, every so often, kindly tilting over into an overheat. It didn’t help that he got an extra heat flush whenever he thought too much about what Clover would think. Were the nails, the jewellery, the make up too much, was Clover the kind of guy who would be more into a masculine side of things?

Qrow wouldn’t mind that, he could pull off both. But then… the more he thought about it, it _would_ bother him because both were who was. He wanted Clover to like him for him and didn’t know what he would do if Clover didn’t. He was only just starting to reclaim these parts of his life again.

They had been talking to each other all week through text. At one point, Qrow suggested playing board games as a meet-up idea, which led Clover to invite him here for their Friday date. It was a board game playing restaurant, called _Ludoquist_. A place where they could do both, eat a meal and play at something.

More importantly, it was alcohol free. Something Clover hadn’t mentioned himself, Qrow found through googling the place. That was a whole other thing, something they’d spoken about yet.

Not for the first time, Qrow got his phone out to check the time and their messages to make sure he had the correct time and day. Clover had about three more minutes left. While he was at it, he checked to see if any of the others needed him for something, but nothing came up.

This current humidity really wasn’t helping. By now, the hot air hung all around, which at first, hadn’t threatened anything. But the second any extra effort was required, it snuck into the joints and across the back to squeeze sweat from the skin.

And that didn’t even put into consideration underground travel. Qrow had been so thankful during the ride over, he put some perfume across his back as he stood on a cramped tube train.

Maybe he should have worn something a little lighter than a shirt and jeans but anything else, from the plethora of clothes he’d bought with the Weiss and Yang, would have revealed a bit too much than he liked. He wasn’t Tai, he didn’t wear shorts in the summer.

Clover, however, did.

Right then, he came up the street dressed in shorts and a tank top, a jacket slung over his arm and a green bandana tied around that upper arm. Even though he wore sunglasses, his face distinctively lit up when he spotted Qrow by the café entrance.

Clover’s step increased, until he stood right in front of him. From here, he could make out the dark hairs on Clover’s calves. The sweat had gathered a little on his forehead. He smelled really nice.

“Hey,” Qrow said, swallowing around a suddenly dry throat.

“Hi, you look,” Clover didn’t hide the way he glanced up and down Qrow’s body, “very nice.”

That hot itch, from way back on the day they first met during Pride, crept up Qrow’s neck and he was thankful for keeping the shirt. It hid his blush just fine. “Thanks,” he said. “You don’t scrub up that bad yourself.” He turned towards the café window. “This place looks interesting.”

“I hope so,” Clover said. “Never been here myself. But a friend recommended it.”

Qrow gave him a side glance and stepped closer. “Oh well, you’re screwed then, if the food is shit or unsatisfactory.”

Clover met his gaze. “I suppose I am.”

They shared relatively the same height, so Qrow barely had to raise his head to meet it.

For a second, something on the softer side of curious appeared behind Clover’s eyes. He regarded Qrow. It didn’t take long to find what he was looking for.

A different smile, one Qrow had yet to see, spread across Clover’s face and he swore his heart genuinely skipped a beat.

Inside, Clover said, “I don’t mind where we sit.”

“Those two seaters across the back wall should be fine.” Qrow wondered towards a double table in the top corner, away from the window. “How do we do this?” he said, hovering a little in the middle of the room. He felt the heat of Clover’s upper body come up behind him. “Do we get the game first or get our seat?”

“I don’t know,” Clover said practically into his ear. “Try grabbing us a seat and I’ll see if anyone shouts at me for going for a game. Any preferences?”

“Something I can win,” Qrow said, threw it in there.

“Alright, so a reservation at a different place then?”

Qrow froze, turning to look at him. “A funny man, aren’t we?”

Clover raised his brow and retreated away over towards the boardgame shelving units. They took up the far wall of the café, black blocks reaching out in uniform sections across the width of it.

On his own, Qrow retrieved that spot he wanted before it was nabbed. He plonked himself down in the seat the against the wall, then worried if Clover might have wanted this spot instead.

He searched across to where to find him and watched Clover scan up and down a shelf, before moving on to the next.

Qrow let himself stare at him for a few seconds longer. At his broad set shoulders, broader than Qrow remember, how his arms looked when he reached up to examine a boardgame box, the knot in his bandana straining a little. Qrow knew, first hand, the strength behind those arms. He had tied his jacket around his middle now. A genuine expression of concentration appeared on his face with each boardgame he came across. He was taking this seriously. He’d clearly styled his hair for the evening. Some deliberate, some unconscious, Qrow noted that all made him look very handsome.

He couldn’t ignore the bubbles of excitement brewing in his belly. Gradually he dragged his gaze down to his phone. Still no one new messages from any of the family yet. He needed to stop overthinking too much and just enjoy the time away.

Qrow only became aware of Clover’s reapproach when a pack of cards got shoved under his face.

“Before you say anything,” Clover said, explaining as he looked up, “I thought long and hard about it and cards makes the most sense, since they’re versatile, meaning if we get bored, we can simply shuffle the deck and start over on a different game. Plus,” he pointed to the art on the front of the pack, “this card pack appears to have crows on them holding clovers and I knew you had to see this too.”

Qrow finally took it from him. “Woah, you’re not wrong.”

Across the front cover there was, in fact, a black bird standing in a broad stance, its head turned over its shoulder. Qrow felt sure it was more likely a raven than a crow because of the beak size and the fluffiness of its feathers, but there in its mouth was undoubtedly a bunch of four-leaf clovers. Maybe there would be more bird designs inside.

Clover lingered at the end of the table. “I can go get something else. I don’t mind.”

“No, cards should be fine,” Qrow said and Clover took the seat opposite without complaint. He let Clover get settled on in the chair, undo off his jacket and fling it over the back, while he slipped the cards from the pack.

Unfortunately its creators lacked the creativity and the backs of the cards merely had a repeat of the design from the pack.

Tapping them on the table, Qrow started to shuffle. “This is the part where we tell each other everything about ourselves,” he said.

Clover’s face lit up. “Yes, I came prepared for that,” he said and even went as far to retrieve a small flip-up notebook from his jacket pocket. “So I may have wrote some notes.”

Qrow clutched his chest as he threw his head back in laughter. Putting down the cards, Clover didn’t stop him from taking the notebook. “What do you even use this for?” he asked.

“Uh, I think someone told me once to always have a pen and paper on hand, just in case I ever needed them. I put that in my jacket ’cause it was small enough not to be a bother. But I’ve never really used it. At least I don’t think so.”

Qrow flipped through the pages until he found writing and read out a few lines on the paper. “ _How much do you think you’ll get paid? …when can you start serving our customers_?”

Clover pulled a face somewhere between confusion and embarrassment as he realised what Qrow could be reading. “Oh that was an activity we had to do at Queer Ops just to get the kids doing something useful. We did a bunch of fake jobs interviews, if I recall. It was before we had a proper office so there wasn’t much paper on hand.”

“I guess the advice was right then?” Qrow said, handing the notebook back over.

Before Clover could talk back, a waiter showed up to take their order. She tapped out a pair of drinks into the tablet in her hand and walked them through the simple menu options until they found something either wanted.

Clover put his notebook away.

“So what did you do before Queer Ops?” Qrow asked, once she left, and started shuffling up the cards again.

“I was in the military.”

The shuffling halted. “Oh.”

Clover dropped his head. “Yeah... it was not the smartest decision I’ve ever made.”

“How long did you serve?”

“A long time,” Clover said, exhaling, “probably longer than I should have allowed. But it led me to the current employment I have today and I wouldn’t give that up for the world.”

“The silver lining then.” Qrow always thought he sounded Ozpin when he said stuff like that.

If Ozpin were here now, he’d follow that through with some clever analysis or sentimental remark, about the future and the choices people have, that would cause everything to make sense again.

Qrow could never really nail that trick down. The things he usually said to comfort people often stirred up whatever negative emotion they happened to be feeling.

Or simply made matters worse.

This time, however, that didn’t happen. It had the opposite effect as Clover nodded in agreement and Qrow let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in.

They agreed on a quick game of _Go Fish_ and started a round.

“What did do _you_ do before the Crowbar?” Clover asked when the cards were shuffled for a new game.

“I, um— ah, cheers,” Qrow tried to remember the question as their waiter returned with their drinks.

Smiling, she placed each glass down and then left.

“I was a teacher,” Qrow said and took a sip of his coke.

“Wow,” Clover’s brow rose in surprise, not expecting that. His eyes even drifted off for moment, lost in thought. At Qrow’s questioning frown, he quickly shook his head, “sorry, it’s just… we came from very different fields.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” Qrow said. He could understand that. “I’m also a bit like you, in that me and Tai used to work at the same school.”

“Tai?”

“Taiyang,” Qrow said, rushing to add, “he’s, uh, the other adult who lives in the house with me and the kids and is Yang’s dad.”

He was worried it still sounded like too much, would be too odd for Clover. Qrow lived in the same house as his niece’s father, along with several other children that weren’t their own. Surely, he could find that weird?

“Yang was the one with long blonde hair?” Clover said, unphased.

“Yep,” Qrow let his lips pop on the last letter. “Her and my girl, Ruby,” he said, “are actually cousins since my sister, Raven, is her mum. But we raised them so closely they refer to each other as sisters.”

The cards had probably been shuffled enough at this point. Honestly, Qrow enjoyed the feeling, so it was quite easy for him to get lost in the sensation. They agreed on a game of _Straight Three_ so Qrow began separating out nine cards between them.

Once counted out, Clover took ahold of his cards.

Clearly he would want to ask about Ruby’s mum next. And it made perfect sense to. Every family member had been pointed out so far, bar one. But there was a reason for that and if he didn’t tell, he didn’t want to be asked. Qrow had become fed up of people not realising why he didn’t wish to dive straight into the tale about his dead wife at the first date, after barely knowing someone for two seconds.

“What did you teach?” Clover said, putting down his first card in the cleared space on the table.

Qrow blinked. He must have misheard. “Huh?”

Half way through a sip of his drink, Clover swallowed it hastily to give a reply. “When you were a teacher?” he said to clarify. No, definitely not a mishearing. “What did you teach, how old were the kids, I mean?”

Qrow blinked again, but not about to complain over the shift in subject. “Uh, college level,” he said. He checked over his own cards and put down the best one that wouldn’t match up with Clover’s. “But it was connected to a high school so I taught a wide range of kids. And I taught history.”

Clover smiled in response, putting down his next card. “History? That I can, uh… I can see that, yeah.”

Against his best wishes, the blush rushed to Qrow’s face. He busied himself with his own cards. “What do you mean by that?” he said, feeling Clover’s gaze sticking to him.

When he eventually dared to look up because he needed to make another move, Clover’s smile had changed into that new one. The one Qrow had never seen before, that he still couldn’t quite pin down the origin of. Nothing changed that conclusion now.

Clover spoke with a low voice, “you, in a pair of glasses, perhaps a waist coat, it’s a nice image.”

“I’m sure,” Qrow said, cleared his throat, “you’d look good yourself, in something like that. Although, for you, there wouldn’t be much needed to change.”

“Thank you,” Clover said, a little confused but still smiling, “I think?”

Qrow’s phone promptly chimed his pocket, then. He whipped his head down to check, only to be greeted with a news article recommendation. No desperate messages from the family.

Dismissing it, he looked back up and saw Clover had noticed the quick check. Although, he made no attempt to question him about it.

“How old are you,” Qrow said, working on his best next card, “if you don’t mind me asking?” He put down a card.

“I do not. I am 42.”

“Whoa…” Qrow’s hand lingered on his card in the middle. “You look really good for your age.”

“Thanks,” Clover said, placing down his own card and not stopping his hand from brushing against past Qrow’s. “And you?”

Qrow sighed. “39,” he said and braced for a reaction, “…yeah, I know. It shows in several places.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” and before Qrow could process it, Clover reached out. Hovering his hand by Qrow’s head, he gently fiddled with bit of hair and manoeuvred it out of the way of Qrow’s eyes. “It makes you look quite distinguished,” he said, looking to where his hand was with a knowing smirk.

As Clover’s gaze flicked down to Qrow’s, the embers of his blush came back in full force. He imagined his face was quite the sight right then.

Clover’s fingers brushed, feather touch, along his cheek like he had with his hand as he retreated away. He kept the soft smirk on his lips as he went for another sip of his drink.

Qrow rubbed at the back of his neck and stared down at his cards without really seeing them. It had been so long since he’d felt this way. So many years. In fact, Qrow was pretty sure the only one else who’d managed to break down his defences as quickly and thoroughly as this was Summer Rose.

“Wha—” he tried to speak but his voice almost cracked at first. Eyes wide, Qrow coughed and started again. “What’s your familial setup? You have any sisters?”

“No, sisters,” Clover said. Shaking his head, he put down another card, “I’m the youngest of two older brothers. But one of them… passed away nearly, oh, nearly a decade ago now.”

Qrow was never sure what to say to something like that. He went with what he’d heard a lot after Ozpin and Summers’ passing. “I’m sorry to hear that. Must have been tough.”

“It was quite sudden at the time,” Clover said, solemn. “Our mum took it very hard, and his wife and kids were obviously devastated.”

“Were you close?” Qrow asked.

Clover looked down at his cards and didn’t answer for a long second. “We could have been closer,” he said.

For a while, they played in silence and drifted closer to the end of a round. It didn’t take much for him to notice that Clover would be winning it.

As if on cue, the waiter reappeared with their food. She put the plates down and asked if they wanted anything else. They both declined and paused the game for the moment to start to eat.

Qrow waited for her to fully leave and for Clover to start fiddling around with his food before he spoke. “I’ve lost quite a few people,” he said and Clover instantly glanced up at him, “it never gets easier. You just have to remember that, after what’s happened, you’re not alone. It can feel so hard sometimes to get past it, to greener pastures. But that doesn’t have to be. There will always be someone to talk to or help you pick up those pieces.”

He’d learnt that lesson the hard way, after all these years. People could be there to help him deal with things, both the physical and mental. He just needed to let them in. Only then did he seem to realise he wasn’t the only one affected by death and that maybe others needed _his_ help in those things as well. Qrow planned to always be there now however he could for his family. And he wanted to extend that, if he’d let him, with Clover, as they would get to know each other more.

Said man appeared to take in his words. “That is true,” Clover said, returning to his plate. His tone stayed neutral, though. Perhaps, he didn’t want to continue on this subject any longer and didn’t want to get confrontational with Qrow.

As a consequence, neither started up a new conversation. They disappeared into their food, not long after. Cards laid face down on the table space beside each plate, resting for now, a game ready to be resumed later.

Qrow enjoyed the different flavours in his meal, focusing on that, focusing on eating the food he had ordered and the sounds of strangers playing other games around them. He really tried to stop the thought process swirling around in his mind right now. But he couldn’t help wondering if he’d said something wrong and had upset Clover. That this silence was artificial and his fault, especially since he had asked the question that got them to where they were now.

Before Qrow could come to a wonderfully, self-loathing conclusion, his phone vibrated once more in his pocket. This time it was only Nora, asking in their family group chat if anyone knew where the remote could be.

“I can’t help noticing your arm,” Clover said and Qrow’s head snapped up. He gestured towards Qrow’s arm with his fork, “do you have any other tattoos?”

Qrow’s fingers brushed over it, an unconscious response. Located down on his lower forearm, right near the elbow, he had the black line art of a feather.

On the opposite arm of his sister, Raven had the same design in a similar position. It wasn’t one of the first tattoos he’d gotten, not even close by a long shot, but it certainly reminded him of how long it had been since he and Raven last spoke.

“Uh, yeah. One on my foot, which is my name written in my native language, and some on my shoulders,” Qrow said. “You got any?”

Clover became flustered all of a sudden, like he hadn’t realised the question could be asked back at him. “I have… one,” he said, slowly.

Interest peaked, Qrow leaned forward on the table. “Where?”

Clover struggled to meet his eye. “I can’t exactly show you in here... right now,” he said.

“Somewhere inappropriate, huh?” Qrow said, raising an eyebrow, “It’s not, like, a tramp stamp or…?”

“No,” Clover said, firmly. That idea completely shot down.

“A surprise to come back to later then,” Qrow said and he felt the need to add, “if I’m lucky enough.”

Clover didn’t throw back in anything to contradict that, like Qrow had meant for him to, his gaze still off somewhere else. He did smile, however - the only thing that stopped Qrow from starting to full blown panic - and when they finished their food, he redirected them back to their game of cards.

Picking up where they left off, “and I win,” Clover said at placing down the winning card.

Qrow regarded the three red cards with a little annoyance, but ultimately unsurprised. He had seen this coming.

“Would you like to play something else?”

Qrow huffed. “Shut up and deal.”

Silenced, Clover took the cards and began shuffling. Qrow couldn’t help noticing that his eyes never left him as he pulled out his phone for another quick check.

Abruptly, the concept dawned on Qrow. Clover would have no idea he was checking for messages. For all he knew, Qrow could be checking the time and he could how Clover was well within his right for thinking that. No wonder he’d started to get, not necessarily bored, but somewhat indifferent with him.

“Is something wrong?” Clover predictably asked, after Qrow shoved his phone back in his pocket and looked up.

He knew what Clover meant, yet frowned nonetheless.

“You keep checking your phone a lot?” Clover said as way of explanation.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Qrow said and then thought better of it. He sighed. He needed to clear this up because clearly Clover was getting the wrong idea. “I just… they won’t say it, but I felt like I was asking a lot getting some of the kids to cover for me today at the bar, so that I could be here with you —which isn’t me blaming you or anything, you didn’t know that I work basically every day there. But it’s only recently that Yang learnt how to properly close up the bar with doing the accounts and putting the money away in the safe, all that.”

Clover nodded, following along.

“I didn’t want to drop a big responsibility of something like that on her so suddenly,” Qrow said. “So I keep checking each message right away, in case it’s Yang, asking for me to come help. Not that I’m not really liking my time with you, uh, it’s, you know—”

“Yeah, I know,” Clover said, a firm and gentle dismissive of Qrow’s worries. Putting down the cards, he reached out and touched a hand on top of Qrow’s. “It’s alright. Qrow, I perfectly understand the responsibilities of being a team leader in both work and family environments. And for you that’s all mixed together. But, as I’ve come to find, you need to trust your teammates – or, in this case, your family - as much as you trust yourself. If they gave you this time, it’s because they think they can handle what needs to be done without you. You owe them at least a little trust on their judgement of that.”

“Yeah,” Qrow found himself nodding. “Yeah, yeah, I agree. You’re right.” Before he could pull it away, Qrow snatched up Clover’s hand and laid it down messily interlocked with his own back on the table. “I’m really enjoying this,” he said.

Clover grinned. “Me too. It’s surprisingly satisfying to beat your ass at cards.”

Qrow rolled his eyes on a grimace but didn’t take his hand away.

They ordered dessert, which at Qrow’s protests of being full, Clover offered to share like something out of a romantic movie. Qrow wasn’t saying no, however.

They got through three more rounds in the wait and Qrow came so close to winning that last one. Maybe it was down to a matter of age. He could normally beat the kids, no problem. But, when going up against Clover, he really met his match on a game based almost entirely on luck.

Leaving the café, the evening was still young so Clover offered to take him on a walk. He led him down the street, crossing the road and heading into the back alley in the direction of the nearest park. The air had cooled over time as the sunset but he kept his jack wrapped around his middle.

Qrow hurried alongside him. Having been to this part of town before and this park, he didn’t need a guide, yet watched Clover anyways. Perhaps a little too closely than necessary as he nearly tripped up on the curb outside the park, trying to find the right words in his mind to ask to hold his hand. Like some lovestruck teenager…

Or should he just have reached out and taken it? They were both adults here, and knew how to properly assert consent. Yet the nerves danced around in Qrow’s belly, holding him back. He didn’t want to mess this up.

Inside the park, Clover led him down a path surrounding the large lake. They walked all the way around until the path bent into a fence-rimmed dip. A few benches had been set up at the sides, but Clover walked past all of them to lean on the fencing.

Qrow paused by one of the benches to read the golden plaque engraved on the back - made in loving memory of some guy who died more than a decade ago - before joining him.

Instantly he saw why Clover had chosen it over the benches. From here, he could see all the way out across the whole lake, across the trees that rimmed most of it, and across to the gathering of birds in the far corner. It was almost a goldfish-bowl effect as the sides stretched out right up to the edges of Qrow’s vision and right before they disappeared, it curved.

No matter where he looked the effect still seemed to work.

“Whoa,” the word slipped from Qrow’s mouth as he zeroed in on the geese landing on the water, over to the right.

“Qrow?”

He turned his head to find Clover facing him, leant up over the fencing.

“Um, right…” Clover started. Dropping his head, a chuckle rippled through his body. “I don’t know why this makes me so nervous,” he said almost to himself, “I’m not usually this forward, especially not on a first date, but something about you feels so _different_. In a good way, of course. What I’m trying to say is…”

Qrow’s heart leaped in his mouth. “What is it?” he said, perhaps a little too harshly. He needed Clover to finished that sentence.

“It’s just,” again, there was that new smile on Clover’s face for a final time and it suddenly all made sense, “all evening, I’ve been wondering what it would be like to kiss you.” He reached out with a free hand. He appeared to head for the face at first, but ended up settling for Qrow’s shoulder, right the near the shirt collar. The thumb tilted up, it brushed against the skin of his neck. “May I?”

“Yes,” Qrow said, stepping up.

The quick response had Clover chuckling again. He leaped the hand on his shoulder up to Qrow’s face, cupping his cheek, and inched closer.

Qrow went to meet him half way, his own hand going for Clover’s hip, when his phone interrupted the movement. Normally he would have ignored it, if hadn’t started to ring this time.

Clover didn’t let go of him, like he’d thought, in fact he used this opportunity to get more comfortable. Pulling Qrow almost flush to his chest and slipping a hand around his waist, while Qrow fished out his phone.

Ruby’s grinning face beamed up at him. “Oh it’s Ruby,” Qrow said. He glanced up to Clover who even nodded at him. “I should probably take this.” Considering their earlier conversation, he hoped Clover would understand as he clicked receive and put the phone to his ear. “Hello, Ruby.”

“ _Hey, dad_ ,” came Ruby’s voice on the other end, presumably loud enough for Clover to hear from this close proximity. She didn’t sound panicked so that quelled some of the initial fears. “ _So how’d it go_?” she said.

“How’d what go?”

“ _Your date with_ _Mr. Four-Leaf_.”

Clover’s brow tilted at the nickname.

“It’s not …finished,” Qrow said.

“ _Oh_...” Ruby went very quiet and for a second he thought she might have just hung up. “ _Are you with him now? You’re not. You are, aren’t you_?”

Qrow looked up at what he could still see of Clover from the little space was between them now. “Yep, you could say that.”

Clover smiled, the hand on his face caressed his cheek.

“ _Oh, oops… well there’s nothingelsetotalkabout_ ,” Ruby rushed out, “ _textmewhenyou’redone, loveyou_.”

“Love you too, bye, Ruby,” Qrow said, laugh in his throat.

“ _Bye, dad, sorry, sorry, so sorry! Tell Clover I said hi_.” And she hung up.

Qrow made sure the ringer screen disappeared before putting the phone away and giving his full attention back to Clover. “She wanted to know my date is going,” he said.

“I heard.”

Qrow couldn’t deny feeling a little guilty. In the past, dates often would get annoyed at his family disturbing their time together. He was meant to be spending it with them. When they agreed to a date, they hadn’t signed up for his family as well and Qrow knew his could be a lot, by default.

Clover didn’t seem annoyed visibly, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be hiding it for later.

“Sorry about that,” Qrow said, softly.

Exhaling, Clover only shifted his hands to refresh their positions around him. “Hmm, it’s fine. She just wanted to check in with you,” he said, smile genuine. Without missing a beat, he added, “so how _is_ your date going then?”

“If I’m being fair… _absolutely terrible_ ,” Qrow said, feigning displeasure. He became aware of the tiny space between them getting smaller.

“Really?” Clover played along, bringing him ever closer. “Anything to be done about that?”

“Maybe one thing,” Qrow felt his lips brushing against Clover’s as he said those words. He practically toppled him over closing the last bit of distance.

It started as a wet press of lips. Qrow hadn’t been kissed like this in a long time. Sure, there had been the odd date, here and there, throughout the years. But they would often be desperate and full of passion from the beginning, with the intent of eventually ending up one way.

No one had wanted to take their time, and neither had Qrow.

For a small second, they lingered, lips unmoving against each other. And then a content sigh escaped Qrow. Clover took it as his cue to open his mouth and push deeper. He welcomed him in and shifted his head to get a better angle. The arm around his middle tightened.

Just as soon as it had started, Clover pulled off for some air.

Qrow found himself leaning back in, chasing the taste and groaning when Clover manoeuvred his forehead along to block the way. “Kiss me again,” he said, only after he’d spoken, did he realise how far over desperate that sounded.

For the split-second Clover didn’t respond, Qrow worried he wasn’t feeling the same rush. That he had gotten this all wrong and they weren’t compatible, that was why he pulled back so soon.

Then Clover chuckled, hot breath dancing over Qrow’s lips. “Not good enough the first time?”

“Shut up.”

“Shutting up,” Clover said, mouth already on him.

Pushing deeper this time from the get go, Qrow hoped no one was nearby, or else they’d be greeted with an embarrassing example of PDA. He slid his hand down from Clover’s hairline to come up beside Clover’s jaw, while his other moved to his shoulder.

The skin on Clover’s face felt soft, he must have shaved that morning. Clover’s hand in his hair buried itself further into the strands, to pull him closer. Qrow couldn’t help the small moan that escaped him.

Clover captured the noise, his kiss growing feverish. He held Qrow with such soft strength, other arm snaking further around his middle until they were finally flush, chest to chest.

Qrow cupped Clover’s face now from both sides. Something that could only be described as electric joy danced about behind his ribcage as he dissolved into the soothing feel of Clover’s lips on his, his body encircling him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been held like this, a warm structure all around. Not from James, and certainly not from Tai, but they never really put their all into kissing each other.

This felt _great._ And it was only their first kiss.

Eventually they released with a click of lips, but dived back in for a few more tries. Coming to a full stop and not pulling apart.

Foreheads together, Qrow found himself suddenly breathless.

“Qrow?” Clover’s voice punctured through the white noise that had developed around them.

“Huh?”

“I’d really like to see you again.”

Qrow almost barked up a laugh. He thought Clover had made it pretty clear that was the case already, and didn’t need to say it out loud. “I think we can arrange that,” he said. His hands slid back to hug Clover’s neck.

This close, it was impossible not to notice the changes in Clover’s body, the way his arms tensed around him in response to the joke. “Do I have to beg you?” he said, voice genuinely on the edge of desperate.

Qrow sighed and pulled his head back enough to look him in the eye, almost gave in right then after seeing his swollen-kissed lips. A renewed rush ran through Qrow knowing he had done this to him. “As interesting as it would be to see that,” he said, eyes moving away in thought to drag out Clover’s pain and received a lovely frustrated groan in response. “There’s no point, when I feel the same.”

Clover smiled and it shone like a bright star. Dropping his arms, he slipped away from him abruptly.

Qrow fought back against the loss of warmth. About to protest until he saw the offer for his hand. He gladly gave up it when Clover asked and they walked back out from the dip in the path.

They travelled in relative silence, linked by the hands. The desire to talk put to one side for a moment while they enjoyed their surroundings.

Clover led him all back to his car, even offering Qrow a lift. But he already had his own car waiting somewhere to take him home.

Walking up to the vehicle, Clover spun round to face Qrow and brought them to a halt. “In all seriousness, I had a really good time tonight.”

“Me too,” Qrow said, honestly.

“I have two days off next week if you wanted to go do something and then come back to mine. We could watch a movie, or I’ve got a PlayStation – we could play some games, other than cards. You could stay the night, if that would be something you’d be interested in?”

A grin on his face, Qrow wanted all of that and more. It surprised him by just how much, really.

Clover had appeared to want to slow down his suggestions, at the end there. As if he thought they were too much, but the feeling was mutual.

Qrow then remembered he couldn’t rush to get their hopes up so suddenly. After today, he would have to get back to his responsibilities at the pub. “I’ll see what I can get off work,” he said, “but I’d like that a lot, yeah. If you can find something active for us to do, that might be fun.”

“Active?”

“I don’t know like a class or a day out activity thing. Trust me, in the past, I’ve found doing something to get you off your feet, being stupid together works as a good date. What is it adults do for fun nowadays?”

Clover shrugged. “I’ll see what I can find.”

Then abruptly noticing his mistake, Qrow rushed to say, “no, no, wait, you organised this one, it’s my turn to organise the next date.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Clover interjected, shaking his head. “I want to. You can even organise the next two after to make up for it.”

It wasn’t that big a deal, so Qrow relented, relaxing his insistence. He nearly missed the promise of more dates. “Okay,” he said. “Don’t let your hopes get too high.”

“I won’t hear of that,” Clover turned back to his car, “I’m sure you won’t disappoint.”

Qrow planned to let him leave at that. But, gaining a nice view of Clover’s broad shoulders, remembering those arms around him, made him want to kiss Clover one final time. He realised he could have that. “Clover,” Qrow said, touching his arm, “could I,” tilted his head, boldly, “kiss you again?”

A slow smile spread across Clover’s face. He pocketed his keys and pulled Qrow in by the waist. “You don’t need to ask,” Clover said and kissed him.

Qrow relaxed against Clover’s body and went with him as they leant back against the door of his car—

A high-pitched alarm abruptly screamed from all around them. The moment permanently pierced through. They bolted apart as if struck and looked to each other, now fully alert.

“Oh shit—” eyes wide, Clover scrabbled to get his keys out again and to silence the noise. When it had stopped, “that was my car alarm,” he said, out of breath. “Sorry, should have switched it off first.”

Breathless too, Qrow struggled to swallow. “Well, that’s one way to shock the system,” he said.

Clover glanced at him. “You alright?” He caressed along Qrow’s arm in mirror of his own gesture moments before.

“Fine,” Qrow said, managing to get that out before bursting into laughter. It was definitely the adrenaline still rushing around his system but Clover laughed along with him and that felt something nice. In fact, it felt so good to just let it go and he found the sound of Clover’s laughter was something he was starting to like very much.

Its alarm properly diffused, Clover climbed inside his car.

Qrow leant down to look at him through the car window. “Goodbye, Clover,” he planted his hand over the half-rolled down window.

Clover saluted two fingers off his forehead. “See you around, Qrow.”

Stepping back, Qrow let him reverse from the parking space. As he watched Clover drive off and across the carpark towards the exit, his phone buzzed for the final time with a message from Yang, telling him she’d made it home after finishing and locking up at the pub.

¬

It wasn’t particularly late when Qrow arrived back, but the house lay in a hushed silence. Artificial almost, like everyone inside had planned to do their best to keep quiet. He held the door when he closed it as so not to disturb the peace, before leaning against it. Those good feelings still bubbling up around in his chest, he couldn’t help but smile and needed moment to breathe.

Qrow found Yang and Blake curled up in the front room asleep. Switching off the TV, he threw one of the discarded blankets over them and then headed to the kitchen.

In here, he found Tai and Ruby. They didn’t make much of it as he came in to join them. Tai appeared to be about to make some food, while Ruby watched on one of the stools. Qrow slipped his arms around her shoulders and she leant her head fully back to glance up at him.

“Clearly, someone had a good time,” Tai said.

Qrow only smiled, hugged Ruby tighter, and planted a kiss on her forehead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> getting back into fairgame is reminding me of the pain from ep 12


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> straight into a second date :P

“Salsa dancing?”

Clover tensed at the uncertain tone in Qrow’s voice. He knew it wasn’t directed at him and tried to keep his hand loose in Qrow’s hold.

He had wanted it to be a surprise, so hadn’t told Qrow his plan until they were far in the building and stood directly in front of the notice board. Overflowing with array of informative posters, one of which was about a charming salsa dancing course.

It occurred to Clover, he may have completely missed the mark. Perhaps Qrow wasn’t the soft of guy who liked to move his body in strange ways in a room full of strangers, no matter what the circumstances or who was with him.

“I know,” Clover said, sighing, “but the only other one with spaces left was roller skating. And I don’t think either of us wanted to be falling flat on our backsides any time soon.”

Qrow looked to him, after another second, “fair point.”

Someone behind him needed to get past and Clover stepped out of their way. Returning back, he found Qrow still regarding the board.

“If you’re really not feeling it, we can leave at any time,” he offered.

“No, no, I’ll give it a shot,” Qrow said. He glanced towards Clover then and smiled. “For you. It was my idea after all. I said something _active_ and you, sure as hell, found something fitting that category. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Clover squeezed his hand in response, unable to not feel slightly proud of himself. He always got like that whenever he’d done something right for someone, no matter how big or small. Although, it made him wonder if Elm was right, and it could make him a bit of a pushover at times.

The matter was settled.

Clover continued to watch Qrow for a moment, admiring his styled black locks, graying at the edges in such a charming way. He’d picked a blouse to match his eyeshadow and sinfully tight jeans.

In the short time Clover had gotten to know him, he had to admit he couldn’t pin Qrow down as of yet. And normally he would be quite good with this sort of thing. It was part of his job. In this case, however, it was undeniable, Qrow was a different one. But in a good way, he found.

He’d clearly been going through _something_. Clover remembered the day they met, Qrow looked like a man who had been pushing through a substance for decades and decided to quit just that weekend. Migraines could do that to a person and he must have at least been having an off-day because when they met again in that supermarket, Qrow had a lot more colour to his cheeks and had seemed generally more healthy, more happy.

On their previous date, he came across as someone quite weary of what people could think of him and especially how they might react to that. Yet he cared so deeply for his family, even during his time off. Qrow had a very construed view of himself from what his actions spoke for instead.

Whatever it was, he would surely tell Clover when he felt it appropriate. Clover didn’t mind the wait. He only wanted to make sure he did this right because, already, he really liked him.

In the end, they’d had to settle for half day for this date, unlike what Clover originally suggested. And Qrow couldn’t stay round tonight, since he had work in the morning. The alternative was waiting another week and the promise of more dates in the future was yet to be broken, so they took what they could get.

“Vine told me he went with a few of his friends,” Clover said as they made their way inside, towards the hall the poster said these lessons would be taking place in, “and had an unexpectedly good time, which for him is saying something.”

Of all the people to give him date ideas, Vine had surprisingly shone through. Undoubtedly, he been hadn’t on a date himself at the time, instead with a large group of friends, but insisted it would work for two and that it was, what Qrow would consider, ‘active.’ Vine remained so calm and collected in the office, barely raising a hand to receiving high five Harriet or Marrow, Clover really couldn’t picture him out here dancing, let alone something as close contact as salsa.

“He usually a picky guy?”

Shaking his head, “oh no, he just isn’t the type to get-down-and-boogie,” Clover said, “so if he had a good time, something has to be special about these dance lessons.”

They passed the bathrooms on the way there, so that answered that question. Pushing open the double doors, they found a good number of people already inside.

Right off the bat, him and Qrow were clearly the youngest people in the room. Bar the instructor, who looked still in his earlier 20s and certainly had the energy of one.

Before starting up, he walked around introducing himself to everyone first. His name was Todd and he gave Clover a very noticeable glance up and down, which Qrow thankfully found amusing rather than jealousy-inducing.

He even leaned in to whisper, “maybe take your jacket off at some point, show him your nice arms,” his breath a light tickle across Clover’s neck.

“And draw even more attention to myself?” Clover didn’t need to check to know he was the tallest here.

Qrow merely patted his back.

The other members were a gaggle of old age pensioners, who seemed to possess that weird old people hivemind, meaning Clover struggled to distinguish if they had all come from the same group or were a mix of different others. One managed to recognise Qrow from his pub and confirmed two on the younger end of the age scale were also on a date, and Clover found he no longer felt like the odd man out in the room.

So far, nothing about this class stood out in particular that might reel Vine in. Clover hadn’t figure it out, although assumed it would mostly like be because of Todd. The young guy had a similar dark skin tone to Marrow, but with longer hair he’d styled up into an afro.

He certainly wasn’t as tall as Marrow. That kid had shot up in the last few years, Clover had known him.

Todd wore a shirt and shorts, despite that the weather didn’t call for it. The latest heat wave died out at the beginning of the week. He was clearly a queer man and had attracted a queer audience.

To start the class Todd turned down his speaker set up in the corner. He clapped few times, drawing everyone’s attention. “Well hello, what a beautiful selection of folks we have with us today,” he said, “you know who I am, and I’m sure you’re comfortable and ready to learn how to dance some salsa!”

Todd talked them through the price for his first lesson and the discount provided for first-timers. Clover already offered to pay for Qrow’s part, but he twisted Clover’s arm until he promised to do an equal split.

He didn’t really know of Qrow’s money situation. He obviously earned enough from the bar to support a household full of kids, but Clover suspected there was something else as well.

But this wasn’t about who could afford it. They had split the bill last time and he’d wanted to treat him.

Nonetheless, if Qrow wanted to pay half, he wouldn’t argue.

That now out the way, Todd began the class. To break the ice, he got everyone moving around in some physical actions, twirling the waist and hips, to warm up their muscles, get them used to the types of moves they would need to be making for the dance.

Qrow did surprise him a little by embracing everything Todd threw their way. He could really move and Clover nearly got a little too distracted watching Qrow, instead of their instructor.

Todd’s short-sleeved tee and shorts soon made sense as, before they’d even gotten to the main dancing, Clover found himself becoming too hot.

Taking off his jacket, he caught Qrow giving him a knowing glance. But Todd was too busy in the corner, helping some old lady couple, to notice.

Next, Todd instructed them through just the steps of the dance. This meant he was mostly busy again with the other, much older members who needed reminding how to move their hips correctly, leaving Clover and Qrow alone to talk.

Clover stepped in closer to him. “No wonder you suggested something physical, you’re better at this than other stuff… stuff where you need to do a little thinking,” he said and hoped Qrow got he was joking.

Qrow briefly glanced up from watching his feet to give Clover a deliberate frown.

Clover could feel himself beginning to really enjoy putting that expression on his face.

“It’s the luck, not the brain work that I struggle with,” Qrow said, head down. A small smile contrasted his irritable tone.

Clover stepped closer again until their shoulders touched, liking the fact Qrow leaned towards him. “You don’t struggle with luck. That’s the point of it.”

Qrow scoffed. “I have a lot of evidence that would very much disprove you.”

A wave of doubt suddenly washed over Clover. Maybe it had been continued low tone in Qrow’s voice or the general background nerves he still felt in his presence. He worried all this time he’d been missing something and that Qrow wasn’t actually enjoying any of this. Since it had been a real struggle to get their schedules to line up, it would be smart not to waste their time on something he wasn’t enjoying. But he was just putting up with it anyways because it was all they’d got. Clover stopped and Qrow took notice of the pause.

He stopped too. “You okay?” he asked, a little ironically.

“Yeah, you? You’re liking this, I mean? We can still leave, at any point, if that’s the case.” He needed to stop talking.

“If you could see the view of your legs from here, you wouldn’t be giving me that option,” Qrow said and met his glaze with a defiant twinkle in his eye and a smile curving his lips upwards.

Clover let himself be momentarily speechless, just grinning back.

When he still didn’t speak, Qrow carried on in his wake, “I’m getting at least one dance with you, then we can start to think about leaving,” he said and returned to set of the forward and backwards steps.

Grin growing wider on his face, Clover reached down to brush his hand past one of Qrow’s and enjoyed the brief flush it elicited over the back of the man’s neck.

Clapping, Todd stepped back into the front and drew the focus onto him. “Well I think we’re ready to move onto the next things. Now, I’m glad to see we’re all a wonderful mix of boys, girls, and non-binary folks here,” he said, “but there are still lead and follow roles in this dance. So I’ll let you decide amongst yourself who wants to be which. Remember, there’s no wrong answers here.”

They turned to each other.

“Do you want to lead? You’re the taller one,” Qrow said.

“I, um, I don’t mind.”

Qrow followed that with a shrug. “You can lead if you want?”

“I don’t…” He realised this was going around in circles, “yeah, I’ll, uh lead,” Clover said, firmly.

“You sure?”

“If you want to—?”

“Just lead,” Qrow said finally, and rather on the irritable side.

Clover gave in, if only to kill the tension. “Okay. Alright, leading.”

“If it ain’t working, we can change it later.”

Todd, surveying everyone’s choices, nodded. “I see, I see,” he said. “We’re all paired off tonight, which is lovely, always lovely to see we have a friend who can be there. But that leaves no one here for little, ol’ me.”

A few of the older ladies, the ones he’d been spending most of his time helping out in the corner, responded with a collective sympathetic moan.

Todd touched a hand to his chest. “Aww, thank you. But it’s quite alright, I’ll just have to get my friend instead.” As he spoke, he made his way to a door in the corner, disappearing into the spare room. Reappearing with his hands still behind the door, he turned back to the sea of now slowly frowning faces, “all I ask is that you please give a very gentle welcome to my emergency partner...”

Clover shared a side glance with Qrow to find him already looking his way. Both were equally confused. They knew what the other would be thinking, no way there was someone hiding in that room this time, so what was he about to pull out?

“Because she’s a little shy. But once she’s expanded enough, she’s a bubbly little lady,” he continued and then retracted his arms from the cupboard to reveal… an inflatable sex doll.

For a good second a startled hush settled across the room, no one sure how to react.

They both grabbed each other as Clover and Qrow abruptly burst into laughter.

There it was. This was the type of humour that was exactly what Vine would have wanted. Clover could picture him now, with his friends – and maybe even with Marrow if he asked at the right time – getting on just fine with Todd like a house on fire.

Even the old folks gave a good chuckle. Todd looked very pleased with himself.

For a good minute, Clover struggled for breath until the mirth of the situation died down.

Qrow was wiping a tear from his eyes, when they eventually pulled a part.

Even despite the punchline of the joke, Todd actually made good use of his dance _partner_. Her bendable appendages allowed him to, somewhat, properly demonstrate the placement of limbs and new movements needed for the dance.

Facing each other as instructed, Qrow put his hand on Clover’s shoulder, while Clover put his on the spot just under Qrow’s arm. Their other hands were held out to the side, clasped together. There was at least a quarter of a metres distance between them and yet Clover suddenly felt very aware of his own body, and especially of Qrow’s. They had been closer than this before, _a lot_ closer and doing something far more attention-drawing as well.

This might have had something to do with everyone else in the room, an impromptu audience. Clover tried to tell himself that they were all watching each other, they were all trying this out together, no need to get self-conscious. But it had no effect.

Looking around, nothing about being in company actually bothered him.

His eyes settled on the man before him. Maybe it was just Qrow. He wanted to dance well with Qrow for Qrow.

They looked to Todd at the same time for the next instructions. It should have been obvious, he got them to repeat the steps they learned from before, but now while adjoined and with a lead.

Todd was moving around to help everyone because most struggled at this section, although he didn’t need to linger long with him and Qrow. After a little patience and communication, they were moving quite nicely.

He had held Qrow before, but this was completely different. They had been stood still that time, leaning against a stable railing when needed. But like this, their bodies moving in motion around a space, Clover felt as if they could slip away into their own little world. The swaying motions, back and forth, hypnotic almost. The stray hairs lingering at sides of Qrow’s face bounced along with it and when he looked up to Clover, he gave a soft smile. One that soon turned into a giggle.

Clover’s swore his chest swelled, he liked this very much.

They would definitely be doing this again.

Eventually, something got caught on the back of his foot. He tried pushing against it to force it away. But it was a second too late before he thought about it properly and realised that the thing was, in fact, Qrow’s foot. He stepped on the wrong cue and gotten looped behind Clover’s leg.

Wide eyes met his own as Qrow began to lose balance, holding on tight to the closet thing within reach. Clover’s and his vest, balling his fist in the fabric.

Clover attempted to catch them both, but Qrow’s retreating foot dragged his out along with it, taking his balance along with it. Then they were both falling.

Clover let his instincts take over. He couldn’t land on Qrow. And he also didn’t want Qrow to land flat on his own back either. What ensued next was an abrupt two-person barrow roll, happening too fast for Clover to fully process, all with a complete lack of sound.

It didn’t hurt. Qrow ended up underneath. He hoped that was the same case for him. Clover’s hands landed neatly on either side of his head. Hips side by side, heads only inches apart.

Through his chest, he felt Qrow exhale and considered that a success if he hadn’t winded him.

Clover blinked, becoming very aware of how close they were and the more prominent reminder that they were not alone. This wasn’t any closer than they hadn’t been before already, but not while lying, if partially, on top of each other in a room full of strangers. From here, Qrow’s clear gray eyes even looked like they had little specks of red in them.

It abruptly dawned on Clover right then, that the room had grown quiet.

Judging from the rising flushed tint now on Qrow’s cheeks, he was becoming aware of their audience also.

“Bloody hell! Boys, are you alright?” Todd then exclaimed across from somewhere and he came bounding over.

Clover practically had to force his eyes away from Qrow to turn his head up towards him. “We’re good, just a little tumble,” he said and pulled back before his somewhere in his lower half started to get the completely wrong message here.

Qrow sat up next to him.

Todd’s concern had drawn the attention of the last remaining people in the room and a small crowd began to pool around them.

Clover singled in on Qrow to ask lowly, “you alright?”

Qrow nodded. “I’ve had worse. Uh… sorry about that.”

“No, no, it happens. It wasn’t anyone’s fault and we’re alright.”

Qrow shrugged in defiance, dismissing. “More importantly, thanks to your quick moves, that time it didn’t even hurt,” he said and laughed in a way Clover didn’t recognised. Because, the next second, he realised it was fake.

It wouldn’t be far pressed, going from their first meeting, to assume Qrow was quite a clumsy man. Clover cringed at the prospect of discovering just how many times he had tripped over something and fallen down without anyone or anything there to catch him, but the ground.

Promptly, he hopped upright and held out a hand.

Qrow took it and allowed himself to be drawn back onto his feet, not protesting when Clover continued to pull him further into his arms, on an abrupt protective need to hold him close suddenly.

“If it makes you feel better, from where I was standing that was pretty cool,” an older gentleman said from the side, the one who’d recognised Qrow’s pub.

Qrow threw an appreciative glance their way. He didn’t reciprocate much of Clover’s hold around him, other than a hand resting on Clover’s forearm, but he made no attempt to be released either.

Todd calmly dispersed their crowd now the crisis had been everted and then turned to speak to them alone, “good to see you’re both okay. Straight to the floor is always a way to go.”

Clover nodded.

“Why don’t you show me what you were doing to see if we can find where you went wrong?” Todd said, kindly.

Qrow shrugged. “Makes sense.” He briefly caught Clover’s eyes before complying, but no malice appeared.

They parted and manoeuvred back into the previous positions. Todd observed a few of their steps before coming in with his input. It didn’t take much to correct their rhythm and have them moving much faster. They were already pretty compatible as was.

“There we go, that’s it. You’re doing it,” Todd said, “you’re doing it.”

And they were.

¬

Qrow let out a soft sigh as Clover’s fingers delve further into the hairs at the back of his neck. He worked his mouth against Clover’s, although this angle was starting to get a little awkward while leant over the gear stick of Clover’s car.

But he couldn’t remember the last time he’d kissed someone this much since his horny late teen years.

James enjoyed a kiss or two outside of the bedroom, but usually his army training kept him too alert for anything other than a quick peck. It would take a lot for him to relax. Oz had been known to surprise him every so often with a sudden flurry of kisses. But they were exactly that, a surprise. And Summer loved hugs more than any other form of affection, Qrow could often find her either on Raven or Tai or himself attached by the hip.

She was overjoyed when Yang was born, since kids benefited from near-constant, physical contact and Raven found a way to enjoy that as well, by realising she could make a thing of it when someone else wanted to hug _her_ child more than herself. Even when she didn’t want to do that herself. Thankfully Yang had been too young to be affected by her own mother finding secondary reasons to even consider caring for her.

Qrow’s thoughts must have been translating a little too much into his actions, because he soon found Clover pulling away while wearing an odd expression on his face.

He gave Qrow a moment to recover and, for himself, to come to terms with exactly how long they had been doing that. “I’m going to have to invest in some chapstick at this rate,” Clover mumbled through a breathy chuckle. Shifting back in the driver’s seat, he ran his thumb over his plush bottom lip.

Qrow used the opportunity to wake up his cramping muscles, namely his right ass cheek and the corresponding elbow he’d been leaning on. “I quite like the honey flavoured one,” he said, not really thinking.

The odd expression returned to Clover’s face.

“What? You hate honey, don’t you? I mean, it’s not my favourite flavour.” Ever since Qrow had tripped them up in the dance class, Clover had been rather vigilant of him. So he couldn’t work out if that was the case now, and what he was missing as Clover continued to regard him silently.

Best way was to ask. “What is it?”

Clover simply turned to smile at his knees. “Nothing. Just thinking about where I can find some of that,” he said.

Abruptly it hit Qrow. “Are you mocking me, Mr Ebi?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Clover said and the tiredness seeped into his voice, making it low and raspy.

They’d stayed at Todd’s lesson until the very end and more so, then passed a fish and chip shop still open on the way back to Clover’s car. The second Qrow stated he hadn’t eaten since his afternoon lunch break, Clover dragged him inside for something. It meant they got back a lot later than expected, but arrived with full stomachs.

Clover hadn’t made much noise over the house, like Qrow expected, and said nothing on the minutely, long drive up to it. This was something Qrow had been anticipating his reaction of for a while now. To be fair, he knew he’d stated multiple times that he lived with every teenager Clover had met at the pub, plus a few more and another adult, so all those people needed to go somewhere.

But other than a small rise to his brow as he looked up the height of it, Clover said nothing.

Seeing that, Qrow really wanted to spill everything then and there. But maybe revealing the substantial inheritance from his dead wife on the second date seemed a little farfetched, and Clover _was_ willing to just accept it. He should just take that for now.

“I really can’t tempt you inside for a cup of coffee,” Qrow said on a change of subject. He took ahold of the hand Clover left resting on his thigh.

“If I go in there…” Clover gestured towards the house, “I won’t be coming out for the night and, unfortunately, I have to wake up early to get to work tomorrow.”

“Another time then?”

“Of course,” Clover said instantly and squeezed Qrow’s hand. He looked to him then and, within a second, glanced down to his mouth. He brought his free hand up to Qrow’s chin. “Come here,” he said, reeling him in once again.

And Qrow went, gladly.

When Clover pulled off a few seconds later, it was to the side and something shifted in the corner of Qrow’s vision.

“I think, uh, someone might be watching us,” Clover said, eyes on the window in front of where he’d parked.

Qrow turned in that direction, caught a flash of blonde hair as a ripple ran through one of the curtains. The light was on inside the room but he couldn’t make out a silhouette from their angle. He didn’t need to, however. “It’s just Tai, not minding his own business.”

The only one who would be awake at this hour, he must have heard the car come up the drive and gotten curious when it took so long to leave.

“He looks….” Clover said, “yeah I can see him as Yang’s father.”

“Oh.” Qrow hadn’t seen much of Tai to even make out his face, let alone expression. But Clover’s head had been turned before his.

“She sorta looked a lot like you,” he continued, “I’d believe you if you’d told me you were the father. But, yeah, you did say you had a sister.”

“Yeah, Raven,” Qrow confirmed, unable to stop the venom from getting into his voice. “Would you think me bad if I say I hope you never meet her?”

“No,” Clover said, plainly. He didn’t ask Qrow to elaborate as Qrow thought he would. Instead, massaged the hand he still had on the back of Qrow’s neck and offered a light shrug.

Nothing really needed to be said about it. Qrow only leant into the touch and a quiet settled in the space between them.

Clover exhaled deeply through his nose. “Oh, don’t tempt me inside, I really need to get up tomorrow.”

“What?” Qrow raised an eyebrow. “I’m not doing anything.” A partial lie.

“Sure,” Clover said and finally removed his hand.

Qrow opened the car door on his side and climbed out. “Message me when you get back safe,” he said, leaning inside.

“Will do,” Clover saluted.

They said their goodbyes and Qrow watched him drive off again. The euphoria of them having spent a good time together, along with the downside of him having to go, gave off an odd feeling. Before he forgot, he switched his phone off silent so he would get that text message.

Qrow headed inside, trying his best to keep quiet at this hour. He held the door as he closed it. He found Tai in the living room and leant against the door frame.

Tai didn’t try to hide the fact he’d been caught watching and met him head on.

Zwei laid belly flat on the arm of the sofa, legs dangling. The little bug could tell who people were from their footfalls, so hadn’t bother to move because he didn’t need to get up and greet him.

“Get enough of an eye full?” Qrow said.

“He’s very _I need a hero_ ,” Tai said, tone playful, “as in the Bonnie Tyler song.”

“I get the reference,” Qrow flicked a dismissive hand. If Tai wanted to make a joke at him, he would need more than that, “what’s it supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, he’s just…” Tai flexed his arms up on either side of his head in a mocking pose, something like a Greek statue.

Qrow understood and pulled a face because it was true.

“He’s seems nice, though,” Tai said, softening. “If he can make you smile like that.”

Qrow froze and felt his heart do a flip. That was true, also. He’d been so focused on his kiss swollen lips that he noticed only now his cheeks also ached from smiling and laughing. “Yeah might be a sign you lot need to try harder,” he said, if a little snippy. He pushed up off the door frame as a clear sign to move on. “Is there any other reason why you’re awake right now other than to have a rib at me?”

Tai sighed heavily and came away from the window to walk over to Zwei and ran his hand over his ears. “Raven messaged me.”

Qrow thought on that. “Did you reply?”

“Not yet.”

“Don’t.”

Tai sighed again, expecting that. “Wasn’t planning to. But I just thought I might check in with you first. Discuss it like adults. And you’ve known her longer, seen her through all her changes.”

Changes that she chose and Qrow found he no longer had the time for. “What she ask for this time?” he said to get it over with.

“Nothing,” Tai said on a shrug, “she just wanted to talk about you.”

“Me?”

“How you’ve been doing.”

“How I’ve been..?” Qrow repeated.

It was what they would both be thinking. Since when did Raven Branwen make a house call about her brother’s wellbeing, out of the blue, when she barely did that for her own daughter.

After Yang lost her arm, Qrow had waited all day for a phone call from her, even after he messaged her personally about what happened. Information she likely already knew from her own connections. So why would she do it randomly for him?

The pieces slowly connected in his head. “She’s found out I’ve gotten sober.”

“I figured that. Just how’d she found out, that’s what I’m trying to work out.”

A tricky thing, indeed. Raven liked to keep her objectives hidden and that was part of the problem.

Qrow flipped through a few possible options in his mind. Then remembered the one place Raven could access for information about her family, other than straight up showing up to the house. “Facebook.”

Tai frowned. “You’re still friends with her on that?”

“No, but I put on the Crowbar Facebook page that we’re now alcohol free. She must have assumed something from that.”

“You have her blocked on all accounts, don’t you?”

“It’s a public page, it has to be, so she can still see what’s on there.” Qrow watched Tai’s expression while the last bit of it finally slotted together in his head.

Raven couldn’t leave it to an online notification system to notify her of updates. She had to watch the page herself, do the leg work physically herself, for a family that she claimed she wanted no involvement with. Which would only mean one thing, considering past events, she wanted the one thing that made her lose all of her inescapable pride and dignity over.

Raven wanted their money.

“Exactly.”

Shaking his head, Tai shifted around on the spot. “Just when I thought I had her all figured out.”

It didn’t really bother Qrow as much anymore. He’d gotten somewhat used to her antics over the decades. It hurt at first. Summer’s death had been the final straw, however. To his surprise, sobering up didn’t reveal any lingering feelings he might still have for her. She wasn’t family as far as he was concerned. But if Yang wanted to deal with her, then he would respect that decision on Yang’s end, but never for Raven.

“As long as she doesn’t show up here,” he said, “we’ll be fine.”

“Sounds about right. Will not replying make her do that?”

“I doubt it,” and they both already knew that.

Tai took a minute to fuss over Zwei to brush away the subject. “Well, the kids are all in bed,” he kept his gaze down on Zwei. So much so that he dipped slightly into his playful dog tone, unintentionally. “If you, you know, wanted to let me know about your lil’ date. Since I _did_ have to spend time with Oscar _and_ Jaune for it to happen,” he said without malice.

Zwei tilted his head up at him as if he fully understood the words being spoken to him.

Qrow could tell he was being partly truthful about Jaune’s involvement. The kid had insisted on coming along and picking up Oscar even when another licensed adult took up the offer, stating that he felt responsible, regardless. When alone, the kid could really be _a lot_. From the sounds of it, they’d had an interesting drive to Oscar’s school.

Qrow still wanted a coffee, even without the originally intended guest. Now he didn’t need to sleep as much, he could keep up with Tai’s odd sleeping schedule and it was nice, he found. They hadn’t made time for each other since college. Reaching up, he took off his earrings and slipped off his jacket, slung it over the back of the sofa. “I suppose so,” he said, matching Tai’s smile.

He followed Qrow into the kitchen.

“You stink, you know that?” Tai said right from behind him, now he’d gotten close enough, adding quickly to Qrow’s souring expression, “not bad.” He threw his hand ups in defence. “Gods, I didn’t know you owned this nice an aftershave.”

Qrow raised a clump of his shirt to his nose and sniffed. “It’s probably Clover’s. He landed on me at one point.”

At that, Tai gave him a look to immediately question the context of his statement.

Qrow fought off an eyeroll. Weren’t they doing that already? “Well, throw the kettle on and I’ll tell you,” he said.

His phone chimed off, shortly after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had that happen to me and i would say it's like the only time i've ever properly tripped over, except instead of a person, i was gonna land on my guinea pigs, i remember thinking "i'm gonna crush them" so i pushed up off a hand, rolled to the side to land on my back and then i distinctly remember one of my legs perfectly folding up over the top of the other, it was so bizarre, like something took control of my legs, my mum then turned around to abruptly find me on the floor
> 
> gonna get some Ren in the next chapter and after that it all comes to a head

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [Tumblr](http://yellowhalcyon.tumblr.com/).


End file.
